Cascade Effect (HIATUS)
by BRUNNELL PRODUCTIONS
Summary: Previous named "Generation Effect" by GOBIUS. Long ago in the Prothean Cycle, the Reapers found themselves fighting their own creations called, the Neuroi. In the end, the Reapers banish the last Neuroi in what was supposed to be a supernova. But instead, the Neuroi would soon come back to haunt the galaxy. It's through this cascade of events that would change history forever...
1. Timeline

**Disclaimer: I do not own Mass Effect or Strike Witches**

**-(Cascade Effect)-**

**Timeline**

* * *

_**(~68,000 BCE) **_The Protheans achieve spaceflight and discover mass effect technology from the ruins of the extinct inusannon. They go on to establish a galaxy-wide civilization linked by the mass relay network with the Citadel as their capital.

At some point, however, the Protheans relocate their capital to their homeworld, following after a galaxy-wide computer crash, better known as the "Terrific Blackout". This gargantuan electronic shutdown lead to the Protheans losing more than 60 percent of their military and political secrets, since the extranet was completely owned and managed by the government. At the same time, certain races of machine intelligence, including the Zha'Til, are left in few numbers after the shutdown, thus left with no choice but to lay in dormant until another species discovers them.

A thousand years before the Reapers arrive around 48,000 BCE, the Protheans fully recover from the blackout, followed with an investigation to figure out what caused it. A century later, the Protheans conclude that the blackout was caused by a series of major faults in their ternary-based computers, software, and hierarchy: a combination of overburden and corrupted algorithms, a weaken and heavily restricted server management, and faulty VI technology lead to the blackout. Subsequently, the Protheans pursue a new technological effort to better understand and avoid another electronic catastrophe ever again.

Through this newfound age of technological research and development, the Protheans pioneer some of the most stable and powerful electronic hardware and software the galaxy had ever seen since the creation of the Reapers. One of the flagship creations of Prothean electronic technology was the massive cyber mind hive called, Argos. Similar to what become the Geth in the countless millennium to come, Argos uses countless programs equivalent to VIs, all operating in parallel to form an emergent intelligence; however, learning from the lessons that caused the blackout and enlightened by the threat of sentient artificial intelligence, Argos was designed to be absolutely adaptive yet loyal as possible to its creators.

_**(~48,000 BCE)**_ Although the Protheans had learned of the Reapers' existence from studying the ruins of previous civilizations and had begun to prepare, they were nonetheless caught off-guard; however, thanks to Argos, the Prothean Empire manages to miraculously repel the Reapers. Unable to hack, corrupt, or infect Argos, the Reapers are left stumped as they retreat back into hiding for a decade. While the Reapers managed to take the Citadel upon arrival, there wasn't much for the Reapers to work with, not when there wasn't that much vital information and intelligence there in the first place.

The Reapers eventually return for a second invasion, this time using a massive charge on the Citadel. Successfully able to retake and hold the Citadel this time, the Reapers begin the initially slow and painful invasion of the Prothean Empire. Over the next century, the Protheans fight the Reapers system by system, world by world, and city by city, most of them being Prothean victories. At some point, the Reapers discover the dormant races of artificial intelligence, eventually discovering the Zha'Til. Shortly after, the Reapers subjugated the Zha'Til, altering them to seize control of the bodies of their masters and altered their genetic material at the deepest level, transforming the Zha into synthetic monsters and their offspring into slaves. With new allies in the invasion, the Zha'til proceeded to multiply into "mechanical swarms" that "blotted out the sky".

Astonishingly, despite outnumbering the Protheans, this was not enough to make the second Reaper invasion any more successful. Rather, it only strengthen the Protheans' resolve and determination to fight; however, the Protheans became increasingly more over-reliant on Argos, thus seeing it as the de-facto commander-in-chief of all Prothean military forces. Upon discovering this over-reliance, however, the Reapers increase their attention on reverse-engineering Zha'Til technology, eventually creating a virus that would almost instantly turn any organic being - especially the Protheans - into monstrous cyborgs/machines for the Reapers.

Initially unable to turn against its own creators, Argos slowly overcomes this issue in decades; however, by the time it recovered, the damage had already been done. To avoid being captured and studied by the Reapers, Argos has no choice but to self destruct. But prior to its self-initiated destruction, Argos engineers its own anti-virus, specially created ti turn all infected life against its Reaper creators.

This anti-virus would prolong the Reaper-Prothean War for several more centuries, forcing the Reapers to fight the remaining Protheans, the other contemporary species at the time, and perhaps the most damning of all, it's own virus-infected subjects. The anti-virus would cause all Reaper-infected creatures and creations to turn against the Reapers, all the while transforming and corrupting Reaper programming and hardware into this counter-infectious crystalline material. These crystalline anti-Reapers would be famously known in the countless millennium to come by one name, the Neuroi.

_**(~40,000 BCE)**_ The Reapers methodically wipe out the remaining Protheans, as well as the other contemporary species. But with the anti-virus unleashed, however, the Reapers are left with the painful and daunting task to defeating and dismantling their own creations, thus starting the Reaper-Neuroi War. With primitive Krogan and Batarians killed to extinction during the Reaper-Neuroi war, the Reapers throw everything they have against their former creations, even if it meant causing a few supernovas to destroy the Neuroi.

Through one last century of intense fighting, the Reapers finally reduce the Neuroi to several devolved and deteriorating remnants. Thousands of years of planning and careful harvesting have largely gone undone from the Reaper-Neuroi War, with hundreds of planets devastated or altered beyond their original form. One of the planets in the galaxy, Earth, suffered major geographic alteration, thus beginning the first deviation in the evolution of human history.

Among the damage on Earth was the accidental terraformating of what was once the North American continent. In addition, the Battle of the Pacific between Reapers and Neuroi creates the reemergence of the South Sea Islands. Lastly, much to the Reaper's discontent, the Neuroi damaged the Charon Mass Relay beyond repair, disrupting any further Reaper reinforcements to the Sol System for the remainder of the war; however, the relay is still operational as a one-way exit out of the Sol System.

Exhausted and weakened from the war, the Reapers have no choice but to leave the remaining Neuroi remnants for dead and forever trapped in the Sol System, thus proceeding to make their departure from the galaxy and await the next cycle. But before leaving, the Repears discover a Prothean research base on Mars, swiftly destroy it and sparing no technology or trace of the Reaper's existence. Expecting the damaged Charon Relay to destroy the Sol System, the Reapers scuttle and destroy the relay.

But once the last Reapers left, none would realize that the planets would instead be doused in a massive wave of element zero, subsequently contaminating the environment on Earth and triggering a wave of extinctions. Miraculously, the human species manages to survive and adapt, with a handful of people developing a very refined and powerful form of biotic powers. This would forever change the human species via the introduction of biotics capable individuals called, Witches.

Unbeknownst to the everyone, the Neuroi reemerges on Pluto, awakening from hibernation as a means to survive the Charon Relay's destruction. For the next thousands of years before the first human civilizations emerged, the Neuroi slowly transform Pluto into their new homeworld. By 20,000 BCE, Pluto completely disappears from the night sky, suggesting the Neuroi's successful transformation of the dwarf planet.

_**(~13,000 BCE)**_ The turians of Palaven begin to develop their first civilizations around this time.

_**(~10,000 BCE)**_ The humans of Earth begin to develop their steps to civilizations around this time.

_**(~3,000 BCE) **_The Indus Valley civilizations on Earth are founded around this time, alongside the Egyptian civilization a millennia prior.

_**(~2,070 BCE) **_The foundation of the Xia Dynasty occurs around this time, subsequently beginning the Chinese civilization on Earth.

_**(~1,800 BCE)**_ A supernova propels the Mu Relay, the only point of access to the remote Pangaea Expanse, out of position. Concealed somewhere in the dense nebula formed by the supernova, the relay's position is effectively lost for centuries. Later, the rachni rediscover the relay.

_**(~1,600 BCE) **_The Olmec civilization on Earth is founded around this time.

_**(~760 BCE)**_ According to legend, two brothers, possibly wizards (male witches), Romulus and Remus, create the city of Rome. Sadly, Remus is killed by his brother after a bitter argument of who would be the city's ruler. Nonetheless, the Roman civilization is subsequently founded.

_**(~660 BCE) **_The Fusonese civilization on Earth is founded around this time.

_**(~580 BCE)**_ After developing faster-than-light spacefaring capabilities based upon Prothean technology, the asari begin to explore the mass relay network, and eventually discover the huge Citadel space station at a hub of many mass relays.

_**(~550 BCE)**_ The Persian civilization - or specifically, the Achaemenid Empire - on Earth is founded around this time.

_**(~525 BCE)**_ Darius I unites the entire Asia Minor (aka, the Orient).

_**(~520 BCE)**_ The salarians discover the Citadel and open diplomatic relations with the asari.

_**(~509 BCE)**_ The Romans transition to republicanism, thus creating the Roman Republic.

_**(~500 BCE)**_ The Citadel Council is formed. The asari and salarians together colonize the Citadel and establish it as a center of the galactic community, led by the Council. This year is also known as 0 GS, the beginning of the Galactic Standard (GS) timeline.

As a gesture of openness with their new asari allies, the Salarian Union opens the records of the League of One. Under threat, the League responds by assassinating every member of the Union's inner cabinet; Special Tasks Group operatives then hunt down and eliminate the League.

Around the same time back on Earth, a series of conflicts between the Achaemenid Empire and Greek city-states, better known as the Persian Wars, erupts in 499 BCE (later concluding somewhere in 442 BCE).

_**(~306 BCE)**_ Alexander the Great unifies the Asia Minor, having survived years of undefeated conquest from his expeditions (began back in 334 BCE).

_**(~300 BCE)**_ The volus begin exploring and colonizing the stars shortly after discovering FTL.

First contact is made with the volus. Eventually, the Citadel Council commissions the volus to draw up the Unified Banking Act, which establishes a standard galactic currency known as the credit and links all galactic economies.

Meanwhile, the turian Unification War occurs. The increasingly isolated and xenophobic colonies on the frontiers of turian space go to war with each other. After years of fighting, the Turian Hierarchy sweeps in and pacifies the remaining factions. Animosity between turian colonies continues for decades.

The Council grants the volus the honor of being the first non-Council species with an embassy at the Citadel, rather than a Council seat.

The asari discover the elcor home system and help the elcor locate and activate their nearest mass relay. 'Within one elcor lifetime', they establish a regular trade route to the Citadel and are granted an embassy.

First contact is made with the hanar and the quarians. Both races are later granted embassies.

_**(~272 BCE)**_ Rome units the entire Apennine Peninsula. Later in 264 BCE, Rome would wage the first Punic Wars (ending in 241 BCE), the Second Punic War in 218 BCE (ending in 201 BCE), and the Third Punic War in 149 BCE (eventually destroying its rival and its capital city, Carthage).

_**(~58 BCE)**_ Julius Caesar - one of the three generals apart of the first triumvirates (the others being Pompey and Crassus) - launches his military campaign into Gallia, forming an army to capture the region and integrate it with Rome.

**_(~44 BCE)_** The Senate launches an assassination attempt on Caesar, having learned that he had declared himself dictator; however, the assassination ended in failure, with Caesar surviving and escaping the ordeal. Among the subsequent conspirators arrested and executed, Brutus is slain for his involvement.

_**(~27 BCE)**_ Caesar is eventually granted the title of Augustus. But shortly after, he secretly disposes Mark Antony and Lepidus, having long been suspicious of their secret intentions for years. Unfortunately, neither of the two men would go away quietly, thus dragging Rome into another civil war in that same year. Eventually, Antony and Lepidus are quickly defeated and killed in the Battle of Actium; however, Queen Cleopatra, the Queen of Egypt, was killed in that very same battle. Luckily, Rome and Egypt are united together, thanks to Caesar's status as honorary King of Egypt.

_**(~4 BCE)**_ Julius Caesar passes away to natural causes at the age of 96 years old. His youngest heir, whom was also his great nephew, Octavius, ascends to the throne and becomes the next Augustus.

Curiously, a Jewish man by the name of Jesus Christ is born somewhere in the Roman province of Judea.

_**(~1 CE) **_Start of the Julian Calendar, with Octavius creating and establishing the calendar a year earlier.

Meanwhile out in the galaxy, the rachni, a species of highly intelligent hive-minded insects, are discovered when a Citadel expedition opens a dormant mass relay leading to their star systems. The rachni prove to be hostile and begin a war with the rest of the galaxy. Negotiation with the rachni queens is impossible because they cannot be contacted in their underground nests on the toxic rachni worlds.

_**(~29 CE)**_ Jesus Christ is sentenced to death by crucifixion, with his prosecution supported by claims that his followers wanted him to be king. Shortly after his death, a rebellion spreads into Judea, triggered possibly from the outrage of Christ's execution. But days after Christ's crucifixion, a Neuroi scouting party is accidentally discovered near his burial site. Startled, the Neuroi swiftly ravage and destroy the region, leaving almost no survivors behind. What would've been the ideas and beliefs that would've created Christianity, Islam, and Judaism, die with Judea's destruction; however, despite the technological superiority, plus the element of surprise and speed, the Neuroi leave planet Earth for the time being...

_**(~80 CE)**_ The Rachni Wars continue. The salarians engineer and unleash a bio-weapon known as the genophage upon the Rachni. Much to the council's dismay, the Rachni largely shrug off the genophage; however, the genophage brutally mutates when Salarian scientist 'accidentally' let a virus escape from an unknown laboratory. In the decades to come, the K-14 Outbreak occurs, rendering billions of people ill and some dozen million others dead; however, the Rachni population slowly declines not long afterwards, gradually turning the tide against the Rachni in the centuries to come.

_**(79-97 CE)**_ Somewhere in 79 CE, a new Neuroi scouting party stealthily lands and hides in Mount Vesuvius. For years, the Neuroi observe and study humanity in the city of Pompeii. Hoping to infiltrate and make themselves home beneath the Earth, the Neuroi scouts attempted to spread their base of operations underground. Unfortunately, the Neuroi scouts cause numerous minor earthquakes while digging, eventually culminating in the accidental eruption of Mount Vesuvius. Subsequently, both Pompeii and the Neuroi scouts are destroyed.

_**(~226 CE)**_ The Sasanid Empire is established in Persia.

_**(300-700 CE)**_ With the Rachni unable to muster the numerical advantage thanks to the K-14 Outbreak and genophage all together, the Rachni Wars eventually comes to an end around this time when the Rachni go into hiding. Growing concerns about their disappearance lead to the founding of the Special Tactics and Reconnaissance branch of the Citadel (SPECTRE), concurrent with the foundation of another Citadel branch called, the Center for Health Alleviation and Neutralization (CHAN).

Meanwhile on Earth, somewhere in the 370s CE, the German people seek protection within the Roman Empire in response to pressures from the east. Later in 395 CE, the Roman splits into East and West, thus creating the anti-Eastern defense network. Concurrently, the Germanic people are Romanticized, thus subjecting them to Roman cultural influences.

In 486 CE, Clovis I accedes the Western Roman throne (Franco-Roman Empire).

In 527 CE, Justinius accedes the Eastern Roman throne.

Concurrently, especially in the 660s CE, numerous Neuroi scouting parties land throughout the Middle East, although they largely go unnoticed.

_**(693-698 CE) **_Beelo Gurji, a salarian operative, is appointed the first Spectre by the Citadel Council in 693 CE. Five years later, CHAN is officially assigned to investigate the origin of the K-14 Outbreaks, suspecting foul play behind the entire ordeal.

_**(~700 CE)**_ CHAN swiftly discovers that the K-14 Outbreaks was no accident. In actuality, according to the testimonies from multiple arrests and voluntary surrenders, the virus was coordinated by a Salarian-Asari terrorist organization called, the Black Batons. Somewhere around this time, the War on Terror is officially declared by the council, announcing the damning evidence regarding K-14. Unsurprisingly, the Black Batons respond by devastating quarian colonies and disrupting volus financial activities.

Elsewhere, the Citadel Council makes first contact with the turians around this time and persuades them to aid in the war on terror. Upon learning the wake of destruction left behind from the Black Batons, the turians vow to stop the terrorist from ever becoming a threat again.

Sometime after the turians join the galactic community, the volus are accepted as a client race of the Turian Hierarchy.

**_(~768 CE)_** Charles I accedes the Western Roman throne (Roman-Carolignian Empire).

_**(~810 CE)**_ The Black Batons would be defeated and thoroughly dismantled around this time, effectively ending the war on terror. Nevertheless, scattered Salarian and Asari insurgent actions would continue for centuries. The turians are assigned the role as the military and peacekeeping arm of the Citadel Council.

The Citadel Conventions are drawn up in the wake of the conflict.

_**(~843 CE)**_ The Western Roman empire fractures after Romulus Augustulus was force to abdicate for incompetence.

_**(~862 CE)**_ Rurik founds the Novogorod Empire in what is now western Orussia.

_**(~900 CE)**_ The turians are granted a seat on the Citadel Council in recognition for their service and achievements in the war on terror.

_**(~962 CE)**_ Otto founds the Holy Empire of Karlsland.

_**(~987 CE)**_ Hugues Capet becomes King of Gallia.

_**(~1038 CE)**_ Establishment of the Seljuk Empire.

_**(~1096 CE)**_ Gallia proposes the first pilgrimages between Europe and the Middle East.

**_(~1180 CE)_** A primitive, feral subspecies of Neuroi called, the Ratsel, suddenly appears somewhere between Mongolia and North Central Asia on Earth, initiating the start of the Mongol Hordes. It's somewhere around this time that the witch - young women with extremely high magical/biotic potential - began to appear. In the centuries to come, their numbers would multiply, eventually totaling in the millions.

_**(~1190 CE)**_ Establishment of the Knights of Germania.

**_(~1240 CE)_** The Mongol Hordes stagnates into a standstill when the powers and influence of the witch causes the Neuroi fragment into four separate hordes:

\- The Western Horde (stretched as far west as southern Suomus)

\- The Northern Horde (stretched as far north as the Urals)

\- The Southern Horde (stretched as far south as Persia, the Himalayan, Afghanistan, Burma)

\- The Eastern Horde (stretched as far east as China and Korea).

_**(~1242 CE)**_ Formation of the Hanseatic League in Karlsland.

**_(~1270 CE)_** Around this time, China and Korea cease to exist as sovereign territories due to the animalistic Neuroi invasion. Exiling to southeast Asia or northeast Siberia, the Chinese and Korean civilizations proceed to wage irregular warfare against the Eastern Neuroi Horde.

**_(1274-1281 CE)_** The Neuroi unsuccessfully invade and conquer Fuso in two invasions (the first in 1274 and the second/last in 1281). Thanks to the timely occurrence of typhoons and tidal waves, the Neuroi are left with no choice in both invasions but to withdraw and never again attempt to invade Fuso, mistakenly convinced that Fuso is a sentient entity.

**_(1283-1380 CE)_** The principality of Moscow rises to power, unifying the tribes, clans, and faiths of western Orussia. In 1380 CE, Grand Prince Dimity Donskoy and his army - along with the assistance of the witches - defeats the Neuroi Western Horde at Kulikovo on the Don River. Known as the Battle of Kulikovo, this battle is a major turning point in the Neuroi's control in the west, thus spelling the rise of Muscovite power; however, the victory didn't spell the end of Neuroi domination in Orussia for now.

Meanwhile in China, throughout most of the 14th century, the Western Horde suffers from a string of viral mutations, gradually weakening their strength and control over the Chinese and Korean lands. These mutations, however, are not limited to Western Horde, since the viral outbreaks would soon make their way west to Persia by the 1330s. By the 1350s, the Southern Horde loses control of Persia, Afghanistan, and the Asia Minor, paving the way for the Timurid Empire in the 1370s.

Back in China, the Western Horde suffer greatly not from Chinese and Korean militant actions, but rather from natural disasters. Specifically, floods and earthquakes left major gaps in the Neuroi's defenses and infrastructure, allowing Chinese-Korean forces to move in at full force via the rivers and coastline. But it is at the Battle of Lake Poyang (October 1368), followed with the crushing Neuroi defeat at the Battle of Beijing in 1368, that the Western Horde collapses and flee back to Mongolia and Manchuria.

With their homes largely liberated, the Chinese and Koreans move back in to their native lands, together founding the Ming Dynasty in 1368. In that same year, the Mongol Hordes come to a collective end, devolving into numerous skirmishes and raids across most of Eurasia. Around this time, the four great Neuroi Hordes have largely retreated back to Mongolia.

**_(~1400 CE)_** Extensive and unchecked industrial expansion on the drell homeworld, Rakhana, begins taking a significant toll on the planet's environment.

Meanwhile on Earth, the grand princes of Moscow continue to consolidate Orussian land to increase their population and wealth. The most successful practitioner of this process was Ivan III, who laid the foundations for a Orussian national state. Competing with her powerful northern rival, the Baltland-Suomus Empire, she would fight for control over some of the semi-independent kingdoms in eastern Europe; however, both states would eventually work together to expel the Northern Neuroi Horde in what is now Novgorod and the Ural regions of Orussia.

Through the defections of some princes, border skirmishes, and a long war with the Neuroi in northern Orussia, Ivan III was able to annex Novgorod and Tver. As a result, the Principality of Moscow tripled in size under his rule. Refusing further tribute to the Tatars, Ivan initiated a series of attacks that opened the way for the complete defeat of the Western Neuroi Horde remnants, now divided into dozens of smaller and weaker hordes. Ivan and his successors sought to protect the southern boundaries of their domain against attacks of the Crimean Tatars and other Neuroi hordes.

In 1455 CE, the War of the Roses - a series of civil wars - erupts in Britannia, eventually coming to an end in 1487 CE.

Somewhere in 1488 CE, Bartholomew Diaz discovers Cape of Good Hope.

Later in 1492 CE, Colombus discovers the New World.

Finally in 1498, Vasco de Gama discovers new sea routes to India.

_**(~1500**__** CE)**_ Magellan's voyages in 1519 CE make him one of the first people to circumnavigate the world; however, Magellan would never return home, since he would eventually be killed in what is now, the Isabellina Islands.

Somewhere in the early 1500s, the Safavid Dynasty rises to power, thus reviving the Persian Empire.

_**(~1582 CE)**_ In Fuso, after the Incident at Honnou-ji, Nobunaga escapes to the West and joins with the Hideyoshi army.

_**(~1588 CE)**_ Fuso is eventually unified by Nobunaga. In that same year, the Hispanian Armada is defeated by the Britannian navy.

_**(~1600 CE)**_ Establishment of Britannia's East India Trading Company, but with Hollandia competing for control and dominance there as well, battles with Dutch-employed Fusonese mercenaries ensue.

Back in the galaxy, the first sightings of the Collectors are reported in the Terminus Systems. In Citadel space, the claims are dismissed as unsubstantiated rumors and tall tales. Behind closed political and military doors, however, the council pursues to investigate and counter the Collectors.

_**(~1620 CE)**_ Influential Fusonese samurai establish an outpost called, Mizuho, in the North Liberion continent.

_**(~1649 CE)**_ Britannia briefly becomes a republic under the likes of Oliver Cromwell; however, the monarchy is eventually restored in 1660 CE.

_**(~1661 CE)**_ Louis XIV reigns in Gallia.

_**(~1676 CE)**_ First Britannia-Fuso War.

(_**~1683 CE)**_ Second Britannia-Fuso War.

_**(~1699 CE)**_ The Fusonese-Britannian alliance is established.

_**(~1707 CE)**_ Establishment of the Greater Britannian Empire, uniting Britannia, Hibernia (Ireland), Cambria (Wales), and Caledonia (Scotland) as a single untied kingdom.

_**(~1756 CE)**_ Seven Years' War erupts.

_**(~1763 CE)**_ The Treaty of Paris is signed and ratified - peace is established between Britannia and Gallia.

_**(~1765 CE)**_ Britannia ushers in the steam revolution thanks to James Watt.

_**(~1775 CE)**_ Liberion Revolution (independence declared in 1776 CE).

_**(~1789 CE)**_ Washington becomes first President of Liberion; however, around the same time of that same year, the Gallian Revolution erupts.

_**(~1804 CE)**_ Napoleon becomes Emperor of Gallia.

_**(~1812 CE)**_ Napoleon's launches his Black Sea campaign, enticed by confirmed reports of the once-extinct Ratsel reemerging in the far east, whom were commencing incursions into western Orussia. Hoping to take advantage of the Orussians' preoccupation with the Neuroi attacks, Napoleon assemble the largest army at the time, and through a series of long marches, rapidly marched across Western Orussia, winning a number of minor engagements and a major battle, the Battle of Smolensk in August. Napoleon hoped this battle would win the war for him, but the Orussian army slipped away and continued to retreat, leaving Smolensk to burn.

In early September, the Gallains caught up with the Orussian army, which had dug itself in on hillsides before the small town of Borodino, seventy miles west of Moscow. The following Battle of Borodino, the bloodiest single-day action of the Napoleonic Wars, with 72,000 casualties, resulted in a narrow Gallian victory. The Orussian army withdrew the following day, leaving the French again without the decisive victory Napoleon sought. A week later, Napoleon entered Moscow, only to find it abandoned and burned by the Orussians.

Unable to obtain a decisive victory, Napoleon decides to send his army back home; however, unbeknownst to him, the Orussian army in the east had manged to repel the Ratsel/Neuroi threat. Thus, with winter settling in, the Orussians struck back in full force, conducting fierce harassment and guerrilla warfare tactics against the retreating Grande Armee.

_**(~1814 CE)**_ Napoleon is defeated and killed at the Battle of Waterloo. Some time after the battle in that same year, the Congress of Vienna is held, restoring peace and order to Europe. With Napoleon gone, the Gallian monarch is restored.

_**(~1830 CE)**_ Seven Months' Revolution in Gallia.

_**(1850-1851 CE)**_ A Liberion sailor by the name of Captain Ahab is maimed by a whale-shaped Neuroi, whom he later calls, Moby Dick. Although Moby Dick is a Neuroi, the writer, Herman Melville, classified the story as fiction to prevent worldwide panic. Despite the deliberate changes in details, the story becomes a timeless classic novel nonetheless.

_**(~1853 CE)**_ A mass wave of amphibious Neuroi emerge from the Black Sea, subsequently ravaging and occupying Crimea. Subsequently, the Crimean War erupts, with Britannian, Gallian, Orussian, and Romagnan troops immediately participating in the war. Eventually, the Neuroi are pushed back to the Black Sea, slowly but surely hunted down to the last creature by early 1856 CE.

_**(~1861 CE)**_ The Liberion Civil War erupts and lasts until 1865 CE.

_**(~1866 CE)**_ War of succession erupts in Karlsland.

_**(~1867 CE)**_ Fuso adopts a parliamentary system, along with the ascension of a new emperor, thus starting the Meiji rule. In that same year, Ostmark forms a personal union with Magyary and Bohemia. In addition, the Dominion of Farawayland is established, with the Britannian Queen becoming the Farawayland Queen as well.

_**(1870-1871 CE)**_ War between Karlsland and Gallia erupts, lasting until 1871 with a Gallian defeat. Humiliated, the Gallian monarch - Napoleon III - is forced to abdicate, with a republic form in his place. In 1871 CE, the Karlsland Empire is established.

_**(~1880 CE)**_ Out in the galaxy, Aria T'Loak arrives on Omega, a space station in the Terminus Systems regarded as the region's nominal capital. Aria is hired by the station's warlord as an enforcer and quickly becomes one of his most trusted lieutenants.

**_(~1895 CE)_** The geth, machines created by the quarians as a source of cheap labor, become self-aware. Fearing a geth uprising, the quarians begin dismantling them; however, the effort is quickly reverted when the Salarians intervene and help reprogram the geth. Unfortunately, not all geth are successfully reprogrammed, thus splitting the geth into two factions: Loyalist (pro-Quarian) and Renegades (anti-Quarian). In the resulting conflict - simply known as the Morning War - the loyalist and renegade geth fight amongst each other, with their Quarian creators and the Salarians caught in the crossfire. The surviving geth renegades retreat in the Perseus Veil, thus concluding the war.

Shortly after, the Rannoch Accords are drafted and ratified by the Citadel Council.

_**(~1903 CE) **_First flight by the Wright sisters in Liberion.

_**(~1904 CE)**_ Neuroi outbreaks occur in Fusonese coastal areas.

_**(~1905 CE)**_ The Orussian-Fusonese War ends with Vladivostok conquered by Fuso. During that year, Jutland and Suomus split from Baltland.

_**(1914-1918 CE) **_The First Neuroi War erupts, declaring the formal arrival of the Neuroi from the cosmos. For four long brutal years, humanity struggled against the Neuroi, throwing everything they had against the alien threat. These Neuroi were nothing like the ones from the Crimean War, retaining advanced technology and anatomy when compared to its primitive and animalistic counterparts. Miraculously, humanity holds the line until 1918 CE, where the Neuroi mysteriously withdraws.

_**(~1920 CE)**_ The League of Nations is established.

_**(~1921 CE) **_The renegade geths begin construction of a mega-structure designed to house and simultaneously run every geth program in existence. Completion of the mega-structure, which would allow the geth to maximize their collective processing capacity, is the long-term goal of geth civilization. But such a goal would be overshadowed by something even greater.

Somewhere in this year, a Neuroi hive emerges from the planet, Adas, in the Perseus Veil. The loyalist Geth, and their Quarian creators, are quickly overran. Within days, the news reaches the Quarian homeworld, Rannoch, alerting the entire Quarian species of the sudden new threat. The Quarians relay the information to the Salarians, whom also relay the information back to the Turians, hoping to keep this damning new information away from the public.

Initially, the Quarians were able to contain the Neuroi on Adas; however, after a few months, the containment effort collapses due to ground-to-space laser artillery employed by the Neuroi. Even with entire Turian fleets and armies, there is no effective containment, and thanks to Quarian and Turian shipwrecks, the Neuroi quickly obtain FTL technology and began their conquest. Within months, Rannoch is eventually occupied by the Neuroi, thus forcing the Quarians to abandon their homeworld and migrant with every ship they had left - the Quarian Migrant Fleet is created.

Before the end of the year, it becomes clear that the Neuroi is threat too great to ignore. Narrowly being accused of engineering a repeat as seen with the geth, the Quarians are deemed innocent; however, the news of the Neuroi threat spreads across the galaxy. Fear and panic swiftly gripped the galaxy, drawing everyone into a state of war not seen since the Rachni Wars.

Shortly after, the Perseus Veil falls to the Neuroi, and the council declares a galaxy-wide state of emergency.

Thus, the Galactic Neuroi War begins...

_**(~1929 CE)**_ Half of the entire Terminus system is overrun by the Neuroi, along with the Attican traverse partially occupied by the Neuroi as well. For the past eight years, the galaxy struggles to combat this seemingly 'invincible' and 'alien' threat, with very few things in the council's arsenal to combat them. It's around this time that the Rachni reemerge from hiding; however, they join forces with the galaxy to combat the Neuroi.

Unfortunately, numbers and diversity are not enough to repel the Neuroi invasion. A majority of the technologies developed from mass effect and element zero are largely useless against the Neuroi, although the galaxy has hope in anything that did work. The closest thing that is considered effective against the Neuroi are biotic users; however, the asari can only provide so much, especially since the entire galaxy is spread thin.

_**(~1933 CE)**_ Desperate for anything that could combat the Neuroi, the council initiates an emergency scientific and exploration act called, Star Trek Initiative (STI). Gathering together the brightest and experienced scientist across the galaxy, the STI is largely comprised of Salarians, whom are the leading species in this act of desperation. The ultimate goal for the STI is to find and uplift other species to help fight against the Neuroi.

_**(~1937-1945 CE)**_ Meanwhile on Earth, the Second Neuroi War erupts as early as 1937 CE via the Fuso Sea Incident. But it wouldn't be until 1939 CE that the Second Neuroi War is formally declared, drawing humanity back for round two with the Neuroi. Luckily, since the First Neuroi War, humanity had upgraded itself and created special squadrons of witches from all over the planet, taking back the land the Neuroi took from humanity.

Thus, the events of Strike Witches and Brave Witches occurs around this time.

_**(~1947 CE)**_ A Salarian science ship apart of the Star Trek Initiative is attacked by a Neuroi scout ship in an unknown star system. Not long after, the ship is forced to crash land on Earth, landing outside the Liberion town of Roswell, New Mexico. The events of the Roswell Incident begins...

* * *

**Author Notes: This story was originally created by GOBIUS; however, due to some unfortunate circumstances in his/her life, the story has since been up for adoption. The idea of this story belonged to GOBIUS, so he/she gets the credit for this story's creation. Beyond the idea itself, the world and story that awaits beyond this timeline is in my hands. **

**I thought I would let all of you know of this information to clear up any confusion or dismay. I assure you, I obtained full consent and permission from GOBIUS to adopt and continue his/her story. If you wish to see the original timeline of this story, feel free to go to his/her account and check it out.**


	2. Chapter 1 (Landing)

**-(Cascade Effect)-**

**Chapter 01**

* * *

Captain Justus is a humble bird of prey.

The ship in his command was a Salarian ship. But it wasn't just any other ship. It was sleek, compact, and most importantly, it was shaped like a disc rather than the conventionally long and linear shape of any other vessel.

Although he is a Turian, half of the crew were Salarians. From doctors to scientists, the Salarians were the leading species in the Star Trek Initiative, spearheading the search for new lifeforms. This was both in the name of science and desperate war efforts. The other half of the crew were a mixture of Asari, Turians, and Quarians, whom were all handpicked and thoroughly vetted by the Citadel Council. There was even a small group of loyalist Geth on-board, closely monitored and accompanied by their Quarian creators.

Inside Justus' captain's cabin, the interior design was - for the lack of better words - clean and white. Sadly, while the bed was comfortable and spacious, Justus laid straight on his back, starring up at the ceiling with very little sign of relaxation and security in his face. Even worse, despite the lighting being gentle and perfectly distributed throughout the room, Justus had his eyes shut as if it was too bright. Although he was unarmed, he had his hands resting on top of his chest, preparing to lunge outward in case he was attacked in his sleep.

He was still dressed in his dark naval blue uniform and shoes as if he was taking a brief nap. Like a loaded gun, his body was prepared to jump up at anything that came after him. Even though he was aboard his own ship, and surrounded by his fellow sailors, that never meant it was perfectly safe. In fact, there were strong reasons why he kept his eyes on the Geth, even if they were loyal to their owners. Despite all that, he was fast asleep.

But he was suddenly jolted awake by the soft sound of a gentle holographic ringing in his right earpiece. Sitting up, he paused for a moment and looked at his office desk not far from the bed. With nothing but a slightly contorted snarl, he stood up and walked over to activate the holographic call notification on his desk. At 6'1ft tall, Justus had an average height for a Turian, but he thought nothing of it. Even more so, he didn't even sit down.

"Authorization Justus, Jay seven dash seven nine four one." He spoke towards his computer, hinting a slightly high pitch in his voice.

The holographic screen paused with a loading icon on it before it suddenly changed and revealed someone all too familiar to the Turian officer.

"Captain Justus." Councilor Aracus greeted, speaking very sternly yet pleasantly. Unlike Justus, whom had a golden regular hexagram tattoo on his face, Aracus' face painting was a lambda-shaped symbol painted a deep red. If no one was none the wiser, it would've looked like Aracus had been bloodied from a terrible fight.

"Ah, admiral." Justus gave a curt nod as he looked at Aracus' live holographic projection before him.

The older Turian chuckled slightly, although his sternness didn't tarnish despite it. But he was friendly nonetheless, giving the younger Turian a little remark, "A force of habit, I see?"

"Sorry, sir." The Turian captain apologized calmly and collectively, "It's an honest mistake."

"I don't blame you, although it's been a few years since I've been in the admiralty." Aracus nevertheless welcomed, "Anyway, it's good to see you again. I trust that STI orientation had gone well?"

"Well enough. Everyone has been real coy about what exactly I'm allowed to know."

"It's the nature of Salarian intelligence. They don't let every one person know everything, which means we all need to work together." Aracus took a pause before his tone reverted to complete seriousness, "Now, I recently received a report from the Horse Head Nebula. Your father had lead a counterattack on Noveria a couple weeks ago, and he successfully repulsed the Aparoids."

"Noveria? I thought it was overran."

"Apparently not. From what I can tell from his report, however, Noveria had surprisingly weak defenses."

"Hmm, let me guess how my father did." Justus lightheartedly sassed, regarding his father in particular, "He sent out a small flotilla to carry out an initial attack and retreat. Then, he sent in the battle fleet afterwards, where Noveria was retaken."

"Exactly." The Turian councilor nodded his head agreeably, exchanging a delighted presence despite his stone-wall body language, "Your father has always been a fast and devious thinker. But the one thing I cannot fathom is why his son had been sent to chase comets."

"I would be asking the same thing, sir. With all due respect, I'm not exactly enjoying the silence out here." The Turian captain joked; however the the only thing wrong with it was simple: it was a lie.

Again, Aracus chuckled heartily yet briefly at Justus, sensing the humor in the younger Turian's voice, "Such a shame that the Asari and Salarian councilors say otherwise. They think a Turian captain would know how to better respond to first contacts, but all they're doing is-"

The councilor was unable to finish when there was an electronic jingle at the door, prompting Justus to instinctively ask, "Who is it?"

"It's me, Ludorth." A familiar Salarian voice said on the other side of the door, "We finished our first sensory sweep of this unknown star system."

Pausing and looking at the councilor's holographic display, Justus silently excuse himself with a slight nod; however, Aracus knew what was happening, and assured him, "Go ahead, Captain. It's okay, I'm curious to your crew's findings so far."

"Yes, sir." Justus acknowledged with a curt nod before he looked back at the door and permitted to the Salarian scientist, "Come in."

His cabin door slid open, revealing Ludorth Udroko, a 6'4ft tall male Salarian.

It was upon opening the door that the Salarian scientist made a big mistake, stumbling upon the presence of the Turian councilor himself.

"Oh my...!" Ludorth shuttered as she saw the holographic display of the councilor, "Admiral Aracus?"

Unlike before, Aracus gave a momentary yet heavy sigh, turning around to face the Salarian scientist at the door; however, no words escaped his lips.

"I'm deeply sorry, mister Aracus." The Salarian nodded his head swiftly as he walked into the captain's cabin, "With all due respect, I keep thinking of you're illustrious military career than your political one."

The Turian councilor didn't say anything else, exchanging only a inaudible grumble on his face.

"What have you found?" Justus humbly yet bluntly asked the Salarian scientist.

"Uh ... yes, yes!" Ludorth stuttered before recomposing himself and presenting the new information from his omni-tool.

Remotely, the data uploaded to Justus' computer, which appeared on-screen for Aracus and Justus alike.

It took a moment for all the newly acquired information to upload before Aracus uttered ... albeit with a bit of sarcasm and distaste in his voice, "Oh ... how fascinating. Four gas giants, four terrestrial planets, and a type G2V star. Wow, this is certainly worthy of our time."

Although Justus was silent about the councilor's disinterest with the data, Ludorth blinked his eyes a couple times with a slight twitch in the right corner of his lips.

"Gentlemen, I assure you that there are no signs of Aparoid activity in this new system." The Salarian attempted to assure, especially the councilor, "All we need to do now is run scans on all these planets, and we'll be returning home."

"Home?" Aracus chimed in, turning his attention from the Salarian to the fellow Turian captain, "Justus, how long has your crew had been sailing into deep space with the STI?"

"Two years, sir." The younger Turian flawlessly responded like clockwork.

"Two years?"

"Sir, yes, sir."

The older Turian paused briefly, recoiling slightly from Justus' response; however, it didn't take long for Aracus to speak again. This time, he was stern and stoic when he spoke, "Two years? Two years, and the STI hasn't found any new lifeforms to help in our war effort against the Aparoids?"

"I'm afraid so, sir." Justus responded before Ludorth, sparing the Salarian the full brunt of the councilor's disappointment.

"Well, you're right, Captain. This silence is not exactly enjoyable after all." Aracus huffed, completely directing his voice to the younger Turian, "Once you finished with scanning this system, you're coming home. I can no longer stand the thought of a bright young officer wasting his time chasing comets. I'll be awaiting your last report, and until then, good luck."

Then, the transmission concluded, with the holographic screen displaying 'SIGNAL LOST' before Justus turned it off.

Once he disabled his eyepiece as well, Justus exhaled a frustrated sigh, followed by an inaudible mutter in his lips, "Asshole..."

"Sir?" Ludorth crinkled his eyebrows, apparently seeing the Turian captain's mandibles move.

"Nothing." The young Turian captain nodded his head sideways as he looked at the Salarian scientist before him, "I never liked the idea of Aracus joining politics."

"You're telling me." The Salarian opened up, "But you surprise me, Captain."

"Hmm? How so?"

"You don't look comfortable with Aracus' decision for a transfer."

"It was that apparent?"

"Mhm."

"Well, I'm glad, because I'm not looking up to returning to the service. I mean, I'm 26-years-old, and I worked too hard to finally commandeer a ship entirely on my own. But as you know, Councilor Aracus is stubborn, and he ain't going to take 'no' for almost anything. If it was up to me, I would say his orders be damned."

"Y-You mean..." The Salarian blinked, wielding surprise and uncertainty in his voice and body language, "W-We're not ... going home?"

Justus looked up at the scientist in front of him, and upon a brief moment of intense silence, Justus unleashed a happy chuckle from his throat, "Of course not. We're going to take our sweet time and keep looking until we-"

Suddenly, a single electronic ring emanated from Justus' computer, followed with a familiar Asari voice, "Bridge to Captain Justus."

"Go ahead."

"We've analyzed the atmospheric composition of the third planet."

"The third one?" Justus parroted, with Ludorth promptly pulling up his omni-tool and displaying the planets, "You mean this 'blue dot' here?"

"Yes, sir. Sparing you the numbers, we can see the water and vegetation from this distance, but we're too far away to accurately scan for lifeforms. We're going need to get into orbit if we're going to find something here."

"Very well, I'll send Ludorth to assist you." The Turian captain said and froze, looking over at the taller Salarian scientist with a glance before nodding at him and acknowledging the Asari's request, "Once I find him, and I'll be on my way as well."

"Roger that."

Once the Asari terminated communications, Justus looked up at Ludorth and gave him a playful nod, "Right this way, genius."

The timorous humanoid amphibian gleamed silently as he followed behind the Turian and exited the captain's cabin with a left turn.

Traversing through the hallways of the ship, the floor and walls were padded and furnished like a cruise liner, but the lighting and ceiling looked like it belong in a laboratory. On the left side of the hall, traffic walked forward, while the right side had traffic going the other way. Whenever there were doctors or scientists, it was usually a Salarian, and whenever there was security, it was usually Turians. The mechanics and technicians were almost always Quarians, with the Asari fulfilling a variety of other roles. Basically, it's a flying city.

But Justus and Ludorth would never have a chance to reach the bridge yet, not when the Asari spoke again on the line, "Justus."

"Go ahead."

"We've picked up something on the long-range scanners. It's coming from the third planet. Looks huge and spherical."

"Sounds like it's probably a moon. You mean to tell me that an object of that size remained undetected?"

"Yes, sir. Now that you mentioned it, had Ludorth given you our first scan sweep of this sector?"

"He did, but he didn't stay for long. And before you ask, I have no idea where he went." Justus lied, retaining his calm and collective composure when he spoke, "But he's a busy man, and I'll be lucky if I run into him."

A sigh could be heard on the other end, but it was Justus who spoke again, "What's our ETA with the blue dot?"

"Approximately four hours."

"Four hours? Why that long?"

"We were still waiting for the probes on Cytherea to complete their last scans and analysis. The remaining data had uploaded a few hours ago, and the R&D team is still processing through it."

"Cytherea?"

"Indeed." Ludorth finally yet suddenly chimed in from behind Justus, "It's the name we given for the second planet."

_"Hmm..."_ The Turian captain shrugged internally, _"Of course the Asari would name it after a goddess."_

There was a pause from Justus, but it was the perfect opportunity for the Asari to intervene into the conversation, "Ludorth, is that you? Where were you?"

"I ... uh ..." The Salarian hesitantly lied as he remotely talked to the Asari, "I had to relieve myself after leaving the captain's cabin; it couldn't wait."

"Alright, I think I heard enough to know what's going on." Justus took over, speaking into his holographic earpiece, "We'll be there in a second, Tanya."

"Aye aye, sir." The Asari, Tanya, acknowledged before communications were terminated.

Moments later, Justus and Ludorth came upon an all too familiar door in front of them, which slid open to reveal the busy bridge before them.

"Captain on the bridge!" A fellow Turian officer, Tavaris, barked, alerting everyone of Justus' presence.

"At ease, ladies and gentlemen." Justus commanded calmly, relieving the tension in the room as quickly as it came.

The bridge was not too cramp but not too spacious. There were no windows looking outside into space or anywhere else on the ship. That was because amid the scientific-military design of the ship, there were computer consoles and holographic displays, allowing the crews to navigate using live video footage.

"Captain." Tanya signaled from her station, alerting Justus and Ludorth to look to the left side of the bridge, "Oh, Ludorth, there you are."

"Yes he is." Justus nodded humbly, "What do you need of him?"

"The short range scanners have been glitchy after we left Cytherea. Can you be able to find another way to scan for lifeforms?"

Ludorth gleamed slightly at the request, replying to the Asari and taking over her station, "I would be happy to, ma'am."

"Lieutenant," Justus frowned slightly at Tanya's request, "Why not call in Yinsen? He can troubleshoot any faulty machinery. I don't recall scientist being very tech-savvy."

"Yinsen had already fixed the sensors earlier, and we ran a diagnosis before leaving Cytherea. Sadly, we depleted our last spare parts for the scanners." Tanya reported like clockwork, which wasn't very good news.

Only a faint growl-grumble could be heard from Justus, but anger was completely absent.

_"Damn. Looks like we're heading home after this."_ The Turian captain sighed internally, defeated by unfortunate circumstances of his ship, _"Fuck, how am I going to tell my crew about this?"_

"Tanya, the object you scanned is indeed a moon." Ludorth confirmed, displaying the celestial body that orbited a certain blue and green dot.

Tanya turned towards the Salarian at her workstation, exchanging a happy curt nod at him.

Suddenly, there was an electronic jingle that vibrated from Ludorth's holographic earpiece, with another Salarian speaking on the other end, "Professor Ludorth?"

"Eh ... yes, Doctor Bardow!" Ludorth yelped quietly, "What have you found from the Cytherea probes?"

"Not much except sulfuric acid, carbon, and volcanic ash. I'm sorry, sir, but Cytherea is a dead world; a runaway greenhouse effect killed it."

"Hmm ... that's ... unfortunate."

"But that's not why I called you, Professor."

"Oh? What else have you found out?"

"Moments ago, we lost contact with our probes on the Blue Dot. We tried reestablishing contact, and we even had the Quarians help us troubleshoot. Whatever happened, we can't get in touch with the probes no matter what we do."

Ludorth paused momentarily, dumbstruck by this turn of events; however, since he had work to do, he shook his head and conclude, "Okay, I'll relay this to the Captain. For now, continue processing Cytherea's data. I should be back in a little bit."

But Ludorth barely had a chance to resume his work when the console in front of him lid up with a notification. Tapping the notification, the holographic display brought him to the long range scanners. That was when his recoiled slightly at what he saw.

"S-Sirs!" The Salarian swiftly swiveled to Justus and Tanya, "We've been scanned!"

"Impossible!" Justus barked, walking over with Tanya at his side and looking at the screen, _"There shouldn't be any Aparoids in this part of the galaxy; it's too far away from any relays. How the hell did the Aparoids get this deep behind the frontlines?"_

"Three frigate-sized Aparoids at our 12 o'clock. Flying wing classifications!" Ludorth hollered, "Enemy weapon systems powering up."

"Stealth and recon ships." Justus identified the trio of Aparoids on-screen, with a troubled thought coursing through his head in a second, _"Looks like they had no idea we were here until now. Still, how the hell did we miss them all this time?"_

Looking over at the back of the helmsman, Justus barked at him, "Helm, raise thrusters to maximum power and fly straight into them."

"Sir?" Tanya objected in utter shock.

"Trust me." The Turian captain refuted to the Asari lieutenant, eventually diverting his voice to the helmsman again, "Helm, maintain new coordinates at once."

"Aye, sir." The helmsman, a Turian male, acknowledged obediently, adjusting the ship's trajectory and increasing thrust.

Within moments, the ship lurched slightly, with its antiproton drives throttling to maximum acceleration and power. Although the Salarian scientist was sitting down, he was petrified, and his eyes were fixated at the holographic screen, watching the trio of scout Aparoids get closer. Ten seconds barely gone by when the ship suddenly swooshed passed the frigate-sized wing-shaped Aparoids. The central leading Aparoid ship barely had a chance to fly out of the way, narrowly gashing the top of the Salarian saucer-shaped science ship.

"Ludorth, you're relieved." Justus barked at the Salarian scientist, whom gave the Turian a nervous nod before he rushed out of the bridge.

"Thank you." Tanya saluted swiftly yet lazily, reestablishing control of her workstation, "Aparoid vessels changing course onto intercept trajectory!"

"Icarus, initiate evasive maneuvers!" Justus barked at the fellow Turian at the ship's helm seat.

"Way ahead of you, cap." The Turian helmsman, Icarus, nonchalantly saluted orally.

Before Justus could react to Icarus' reply, there was a slight shift in gravitational pull, signifying the ship leaning and turning to the port. Suddenly, the movement reversed when the ship turned to starboard. On the outside, the ship's disc-shaped hull gave it a small silhouette and height, but more importantly, its instability made it extremely maneuverable. Like a spinning top, the ship made elegantly abrupt turns, constantly flying in either sharp or shallow banks. Within moments of performing these maneuvers, red laser fire streaked past the Salarian science ship, luckily missing the vessel.

"Tanya," Justus commanded stoically, "Enemy coordinates at once."

"One of the frigates are on our tail, sir." The Asari lieutenant replied back like clockwork, "I lost visual of the other two, however."

The Turian captain frowned upon hearing this unsettling bit of information, which made him rush over and look over her shoulder, "What do you mean you lost visual? I thought they were right there."

"I thought the same thing. Long range scanners are working correctly, but it seems like the other two ships have simply vanished."

"It could be their stealth systems. There's no way the Aparoids could've possibly-"

But at the last moment, the scanners detected something...

"SHIT!" Tanya cursed vulgarly and swiftly, watching as the scanners picked up thousands of tiny signatures on screen, "Aparoid swarm!"

Swiveling his body and head as quick as a flash, Justus cried out to Icarus, "Helm, throttle engines to maximum speed!"

"Sir, we're already going at top speed." Icarus calmly acknowledged, although it began to sound more like a refute than a simple reply, "The thrusters will overheat if this keeps up though."

"I know the consequences. Now do it! Get us out of this system!"

"Aye, sir!"

Then, the weapons officer, a Salarian female, on the bridge notified, "Sir, GARDIAN defense system is online."

_"Shit, what took them so long?"_ Justus thought to himself, heavily bothered by the time it took for the Salarian-designed GARDIAN laser turrets to power up, _"Maybe the near-ultraviolet frequency lasers aren't that reliable after all."_

"Targets locked."

"Fire at will."

Within seconds, purple laser fire shot out of the Salarian science ship, instantaneously striking down the swarm chasing after the vessel.

"Captain...?" Tanya frowned partially, watching as the Salarian-designed GARDIAN laser turrets made surprisingly short work of the swarm, "Look at this."

_"Huh?"_ Justus blinked for a moment before he walked over to the Asari's workstation.

"Our lasers, they're ... they're cleaving straight through these Aparoids."

The Turian captain didn't say anything as he watched the bug-like swarm fighters get sliced and cleaved by the laser turrets.

_"Something is not right."_ Justus murmured internally, although it didn't take long for him to talk out loud, "The Aparoids are not this weak. Even swarm fighters can take a couple or few hits."

Within minutes, concurrent with the violent and swirling evasive maneuvers of the ship, the Aparoid swarm was almost completely decimated, with only a handful of spacecraft continuing their pursuit with the saucer-shaped vessel.

"Tanya, that frigate." Justus suddenly recalled, almost raising his eyebrows, "Where is it?"

The Asari lieutenant didn't reply yet, requiring a moment to work at her holographic console before replying back to him; however, when she turned her head around to speak, a horrified face was plastered on her, "The enemy flagship is above us at our seven o'clock!"

"Icarus!" The Turian captain hollered at the helmsman.

"I already know, sir." The fellow Turian helmsman confidently and impassively.

Seconds ago, the Salarian flying saucer flew into a left break, slipping directly under the enemy ship and maintaining a sharp left turn to stay out of its sights. Staying within its left turn, the science ship forced the wing-shaped Aparoid frigate to overshoot, now flying underneath the non-Neuroi flying saucer. This was the perfect evasive maneuver whenever the enemy was coming from up above.

But suddenly, the Salarian science ship shuttered all of a sudden, throwing everyone off their feet except anyone who was sitting down. Justus fell backwards and onto his back, but a grunt was the only that escaped his mandibles before he swiftly lifted himself to his feet. But upon rising to his feet, the whole bridge gone dark (except for the computer consoles), but within seconds, auxiliary power activated and some of the lights illuminated back to life.

"Status report!"

Not even a second after Justus shouted, there was an explosion of sparks and smoke from the helm, followed by an 'ARGH' from Icarus.

Rushing over to the fellow Turian, came upon the scene of Icarus shielding himself with his arms, only lowering them once his console was finally dead.

"Icarus, are you alright?"

"I'm fine, sir." The helmsman nodded calmly, unshielding himself and proceeding to reassume control of his workstation, "I'll need a moment to get the systems running again. Can I get back to you?"

"You may." Justus gave a curt nod, turning around to check on everyone else on the bridge.

"Engineering to Justus." A Quarian voice cried in Justus' earpiece.

"Go ahead, Yinsen."

"We have a double hull breach and a runaway decompression at the starboard aft, but we have no power to close the bulkhead doors! We can't initiate damage control!"

"Then try and contact engineering in the reactor room!"

"We already did, and they're not responding!"

Justus paused for a moment, struggling to maintain his calm and collective demeanor; however, he managed to hold together and replied back to Yinsen, "Evacuate to the central section and close off the starboard aft from there! I'll be your eyes and ears."

"Copy."

Once communication was terminated, almost on cue, Tanya shouted, "Captain, the Aparoid frigate is preparing for a pass."

On instinct, Justus swiveled towards the female Salarian weapons officer, "Prepare to return fire!"

"Yes, sir."

"Tanya, scan that Aparoid. I need the location of its core ASAP."

Like a well-oiled machine, the Asari resorted to the short range scanners, quickly analyzing the Aparoid's hull, along with its heat signature ... or lack there of.

"Sir," The weapons officer reported back, "Weapons are operating at quarter capacity."

"Can we just diverge power to just one turret?"

"Negative, it won't be enough."

Not bothering to reply back to the female Salarian, Justus turned his attention back to Icarus, "Helmsman, status report."

"I have power to the thrusters, but I can't steer the ship. The mass effect field generators aren't responding."

Then as if on cue, a familiar Quarian voice crackled into Justus' earpiece; however, static buzzed in between his words, "Caaaa-ti-!"

"Yinsen!" Justus raised his eyebrows, surprise to hear the Quarian call him back so soon, "Pardon my lack of assistance, but that was fast! What's happening back there?"

"The reactor room had finally responded. They're alright, but they lost critical control systems to the reactor."

"Can it be shut it down before it goes critical?"

There was a pause that followed, with static being the only thing the Turian captain heard for now; however, it wasn't long before the Quarian chief engineer replied back, "It's already offline, sir."

_"Dammit."_ Justus cursed internally, blinking a few times to the news he heard.

"We managed to compartmentalize the starboard aft, and stopped the decompression. The ship is safe and sound, sir."

But again, Justus didn't reply back to the Quarian's good news.

That was because Justus wielded a contorted frown on his face, eventually morphing back into a blank yet stern glare, where he then spoke at last, "Yinsen?"

"Yes. I'm here, sir."

Taking a brief yet faint inhale, the Turian captain exhaled, partially lying in his words, "We located the Aparoid's core and we're about to use the GARDIAN to finish it off, but we don't have enough power."

"S-Sir ... you don't say ... ?"

"That reactor needs to come back on at once, and you got a minute to get it back online."

"But sir, it won't be safe. The controls for the field coils have been fried, and if we try to run the reactor, it'll-"

Tanya suddenly shouted within earshot of Justus, "Sir, the frigate had completed its turn and they're now catching up on our six o'clock! ETA 50 seconds."

"Yinsen, you got one minute to get that reactor online, or we're history! Justus out."

As quickly as he terminated communication with the Quarian, Justus turned his attention to Tanya, "The core! Where is it?"

"Central section, directly in its topside hump."

_"That's directly underneath it's main laser array."_ Justus thought internally, _"Shit, this is going to be like a game of chicken."_

"Sir!" The female Salarian weapons officer elated, "Our GARDIAN system is running at full capacity; we have power!"

_"Okay, here we go!"_ The Turian captain gasped in thought; however, that immediately faded when he turned and barked at the helmsman, "Icarus, reverse thrust to full and maintain head-on trajectory!"

Icarus didn't say anything back, simply following orders like a good Turian. The entire Salarian-designed flying saucer came to an almost abrupt halt, making everyone jerk slightly forward before the ship rapidly throttled backwards. Seeing the wing-shaped Aparoid approach the flying saucer within seconds, Justus finally gave the order, "Fire!"

The moment that the Aparoid was about to fire, the flying saucer fired back as it swiftly flew overhead. Purple ultraviolet laser beams were unlike the red infrared laser beams, carving through the Aparoid's crystalline hull like a cutting torch, instantly breaching the Aparoid's energy shielding, and bisecting the flying wing into multiple pieces. Sliced open from top to bottom, the Aparoid frigate glided through space for a moment before all the lights flickered out, where the ship eventually shattering into a billion pieces of glowing glass.

"Target destroyed." The Salarian weapons officer replied, although there was a slight bout of happiness in her voice.

"Holy father of goddesses..." Tanya cursed and laughed in relief, lucky to be alive at the expense of losing her professional demeanor.

"Icarus..." Justus huffed at last, relaxing his posture while maintaining his humble composure, "Excuse me for a moment."

"Take your time, cap." Icarus chuckled back at his commanding officer, "I'm just making sure we don't get caught in orbit of a planet."

"Yes, yes..." The Turian captain nodded, turning his back around so that he could lean against the wall; however, a moment barely transpired when he suddenly straightened his posture and rushed back over to the Turian helmsman, "Icarus! Where are we now?"

"It's okay, sir. We're about to avoid getting into orbit with the Blue Dot."

"J-Justus, pardon me for using your name," Tanya reported, although there was still the slight twitch of her facial muscles, leaving behind remnants of a smile on her face, "But we had arrived to..."

There was a pause in the Asari's voice, dumbstrucked by the sight of a beautiful blue and green planet.

"It's ... It's beautiful." The Asari lieutenant stuttered, not only impressed, but mesmerized by the fertile orb.

Justus turned and began to walk over to see what Tanya was seeing on her holographic screen; however, he never had a chance to see it.

That was because ... all the lights went out.

There was an eerie silence that followed upon blackout, which lasted for a moment until a voice broke it up...

_"This is the one time where fires do come in handy."_ Justus' groaned internally, followed by a partially grumpy sigh.

Then, the electronic beeping and lights of a holographic earpiece came to life.

"Yinsen, what's going on back there? We need emergency power at once."

"Negative, sir. The reactor overloaded and fried everything, including the automated transfer system."

_"Shit!"_ Justus cursed in thought, clenching his right hand into a fist and waving it temporarily at chest level.

"The entire reactor room is sealed off and flooded with radiation, but we can manually activate emergency power."

"How long will it take?"

"One minute."

"That fast?"

"Only if we send somebody into the reactor room."

"No! You said it yourself; that reactor room is a deathtrap."

"I know, and we're not sending an organic in there. Don't worry, I have this under control."

"Yinsen, you don't ... say?" Justus questioned with a suspicious snarl; however, communications suddenly terminated, "Yinsen? Yinsen, answer me! Yinsen!?"

Turning his earpiece off, Justus sighed heavily, realizing that a crew member was going to die in a little while.

With no electric power, Justus couldn't ask for a status report; however, that didn't stop him from giving everyone a simple order, "Ladies and gentlemen, when the power comes back on, get to the evac shuttles at once. It looks like this ship is not going to be making it home."

There were no replies to Justus' order, although the Turian captain could feel the sense of fear and failure among his fellow peers. It wasn't just cold because there was no air conditioning, but there was a drain in hope; the figurative colors vanished from the crews present on the bridge. But the only person that had no fear was the only other Turian on the bridge.

Icarus swung his seat around, directly turning towards Justus, bearing a solid stare on his face, "Captain, permission to speak?"

"You may."

Giving his captain a curt nod to acknowledge the permission, thus proceeding to speak humbly, "I just want to say, it's been an honor serving aboard this ship."

"Oh, don't thank this ship, nor should you be thanking me." Justus said back, although there was a hint of happiness leaking from his voice, "I thank all of you, because you are the ones that-"

Sadly, Justus never got to fully express his gratitude.

That was because the lights suddenly flickered back to life, along with the computer consoles rebooting.

"Everyone, belay my previous order. Return to your stations at once!" Justus swiftly barked to everyone, turning his attention to the fellow Turian, "Icarus, reverse all thrusters to maximum!"

"Right away, cap." Icarus turned his seat around and regained control of the ship.

"Sir," Tanya yelled, spewing a horrified tone in her voice, "We're caught in the planet's gravitational pull! We're too late!"

The Turian captain didn't say anything else, simply standing there retaining a cold and unresponsive glare. Before him was the holographic screens at the helm, displaying the live footage of the ship's final destination. Before his eyes, the darkness of space rapidly turned into cyan-blue skies and white clouds. Before his feet, he felt the ship increasingly vibrate and shutter, breaking through the atmosphere and forming an enormous amount of heat, hence a increasingly large bow shock. But he didn't get to look at the fire wave forming outside, not when an armored panel slid in front of the cameras.

"Shit!" Icarus cursed inaudibly, attempting to hide the brief collapse of his calm facade; however, he was within earshot of Justus.

"Hang in there, helmsman." Justus reassured calmly, "Reentry should be over in one or two minutes."

Then, he reached his right hand up to his earpiece again, where he sternly yet calmly announced, "This is Justus speaking on all comm links, all hands brace for impact! Repeat, brace for impact! Remain calm and proceed with standard emergency protocols!"

Two painful minutes would transpire, with nobody exchanging a single word to each other on the bridge. Eventually, the armored panel protecting the cameras on the hull finally lifted open; however, the sight that greeted everyone on screen was anything but assuring...

Nothing prepared Justus and his crew for the sight of a desert below!

Justus never had a chance to yell any orders when the ship crashed into the ground and he was thrown to the floor, knocked unconscious by the impact...


	3. Chapter 2 (Assessment)

**-(Cascade Effect)-**

**Chapter 02**

* * *

Justus slowly awoken with a shallow caw in this throat.

Luckily for him, no pain shot through him. But it was the mere fact that he was lying down on his back that made his avian body ache. It seem to take him an eternity to sit up, because it felt like his back was tied into a million knots.

When he finally sat up, the once illuminated and sleek interior design of the bridge was replaced with an indoor scrapyard. Above him, there was a few wires and cables dangling from the ceiling. But the biggest mess created from the crash were the bodies.

But upon gasping in exclamation, he heard a few coughs behind him, belonging to a certain Turian seated behind him.

"Icarus?" Justus blurted out loud, turning around and struggling to his feet so that he could check on the Turian helmsman, "Icarus?!"

"I'm okay, cap." Icarus groaned, slowly leaning out of his seat while attempting to retain his emotionless facade.

"Alright, don't move, I'm coming."

"It's okay, I can get up." The Turian helmsman insisted humbly, leaning slightly to his left and sluggishly stood up from his seat, "Ugh..."

Icarus gently clutched his right hip with his left hand as he stood up. But it didn't take long for Justus to appear at his right side. Grasping Icarus' right wrist and drawing his arm around his neck, Justus then used his left arm to grasp Icarus' left waist.

But as Justus and Icarus took his first few steps, the sound of a female Salarian coughing nearby could be heard.

Looking to his left, he saw the weapons officer reaching their right arm onto a console before raising their head and chest over it.

"Mirala," Justus called out to the female Salarian weapons officer, although his voice was somewhat feeble, "Are you hurt?"

"M-My ... My left arm is ... broken." Mirala groaned as she leaned herself on the console, "I can't feel it ... sir."

Looking towards Icarus at his left side, Justus immediately asked him, "Icarus, can you be able to take care of yourself from here?"

"Yes, sir." Icarus nodded minutely, "In fact, I can help with Mirala."

"Are you sure?"

"Mhm."

Relinquishing his supportive grips on the helmsman, Justus walked over to the female Salarian, grabbing her in the same Supporting Carry that he used on Icarus. While he got the right, Icarus got the left side, although the helmsman avoided touching Mirala's left arm, which was completely limp and loose like a noodle.

"Sir, it's okay. I can walk by myself." The Salarian weapons officer insisted, but with two Turians helping her, she couldn't refute any further.

"I know, but I'm sparing you the pain."

Unable to argue with her superior, she quietly accepted the two-man supporting carry.

But just when the trio were making their way to the exit, the door slid open to reveal someone behind it.

"Lieutenant..." Justus exclaimed as he saw the female Asari, although he was too weak to jolt, "You're alive."

"So are you, sir." Tanya nodded, but she wasn't alone.

A team of Turian marines came into the bridge, where they grabbed Icarus and Mirala, relieving Justus of the weight. With the weapons officer and helmsman carried away, Justus could regain his full height, towering his 6'1ft tall height over the 5'8ft tall Asari.

"Captain?" She asked, wielding a rather worrisome tone in her voice.

"Don't worry, I've been through worse." Justus sighed as he turned around and began to look around for other survivors on the bridge, "How're you holding up?"

"Okay, I guess." Tanya followed, but she had a slight limp in her right leg as she trailed him.

Crouching down to check the pulse of a Turian marine lying on the ground, but it didn't take long for a slow and heavy sigh to escape his mandibles, "I'm sorry, Tavaris."

Turning his head to the Asari, Justus partially composed himself and sternly commanded, "Contact Chief Gallus, we got military casualties on the bridge."

"Negative, sir. Gallus is currently in the medical bay for a fatal concussion. I don't think he'll be up for a while."

"Then contact his second-in-command, Voridus."

"He's dead, sir."

Upon hearing the Asari's words, the young captain paused, slowly lifting his head up and looking straight at Tanya. His glare wielded not a sense of depression, but rather, a subtle scowl ... a frustrated one to be exact.

"Bring me to the medical bay." Justus sternly and coldly commanded.

With a slight pause, Tanya turned around and made a left turn outside the bridge, with Justus following behind her. Unsurprisingly, the hallways were as equally derelict and mangled like the bridge. Some of the floor tiles were so badly torn off that exposed structuring could be seen underneath.

Miraculously, few light strips were adequately powered. Most of the lights were either flicking or broken. In fact, some parts of the hallways were so dark, that marines and survivors needed flashlights or helmet-mounted headlights.

Staying close with the Asari, the Turian captain navigated his ship regardless of debris and personnel. Though as he continued to walk with her, the hallways were relatively clear of corpses.

"Tanya, how long has it been since you woke up?"

"Two hours."

"Two hours? What took so long to get back to the bridge?"

"I was the first to wake up, and I tried to resuscitate all of you. Unfortunately, my right leg was dislocated, and it took me a while to find help."

Glancing down at Tanya's right leg, he noticed a bulge underneath that ran up the side. The same could also be found on her left leg as well, which connected to faint bulge traveling up her spine.

"Looks like the Salarians hooked you up to a soft exosuit. I assume it's Dr Duton and Rava's handiwork?"

"Y-Yes, but ... it still hurts to move my leg."

"Pardon my bluntness, but I'm sorry to hear, Lieutenant." Justus sympathized, although he didn't lose his sternness and professionalism in the process.

But as the Turian and Asari continued to walk down the dim and mangled hallways, Justus couldn't help but frown curiously, "Eh? Either the clean up was incredibly fast, or not many people died. The stench of death is surprisingly lacking."

"Actually, it's the latter, sir."

Had it not been for his discipline, the first thing that would've left Justus beak would've been, 'you kidding me?'. But instead, he was partially dumbfounded. With a ship crewed by the brightest men and women among all species in the galaxy, safety protocols were one of the many things to ensure their survival.

"However, we have lots of wounded personnel, many of whom are in critical condition like Gallus."

"Have you heard from Ludorth and the other Salarians?"

"Ugh..." Tanya groaned from the pain in her right leg, "Negative, sir. In fact, the other Salarians aren't even sure if he's even alive anyway."

"I want to hear practical facts, not theoretical considerations, Lieutenant." Justus deflected partially, "Nothing against you, but I want to know who's dead or alive. If there are hostile lifeforms on this planet, we need to mount a defense ASAP with whoever is armed and able-bodied."

"With all due respect, I heard all about that from the ... marine sergeants, especially ... Pyrrhus and Lucius."

"Pyrrhus and Lucius?" Justus blinked, all the while as he and Tanya walked through the dislodged doorway of the infirmary, "Hold that thought for a moment. Where's Gallus?"

A nearby Salarian nurse was about to halt the duo, but upon seeing the slight scowl on the Turian captain's face, the female Salarian stepped aside and allowed for the duo to pass. Once Tanya lead Justus to Gallus' medical bed, the Turian captain couldn't do anything but sigh at the sorry state of the fallen Turian chief of security.

Unlike Justus' white exoskeleton and skin, Gallus was an ash black colored Turian. The chief of security had bandages wrapped around his head, except for his mandibles and eyes. With his eyes closed and his chest inflating and deflating ever so slightly, there wasn't much Justus could do other than accept the losses.

"Ah, dammit..." Justus cursed lowly under his breath, inaudible to the Asari standing next to him; however, he crossed his arms and turned his attention back to her, normalizing his voice in a calm and collective tone, "Alright ... until he recovers, I need to find his highest ranking marine."

"That would be Second Lieutenant Flavius, sir." A random Turian lying in a medical bed spoke up, causing Justus and Tanya to turn around, "He was here a few minutes ago with Icarus."

"Do any of you know where he's heading?"

"I'm afraid not, sir. But you can ask Icarus. He's over there being treated for lacerations and fractures." The bed-stricken marine pointed.

"Thank you." Justus gave a curt nod, whom the random marine nodded back and returned to resting.

But before Justus could proceed towards Icarus on the far side of the infirmary, he turned to Tanya, retaining a blank expression and commanded in a whispering voice, "Tanya, find and report Yinsen's whereabouts. I need to talk to him."

"Yes, sir." Tanya saluted with a nod; however, there was a bit of a wince as she took her first few steps away from the Turian captain, "I'll do my best."

Justus was about to silently acknowledge the Asari's pain, but the infirmary doors opened again, revealing a certain Turian...

"This should be the last of the wounded, doctor." The Turian patted the Salarian male doctor on the right shoulder, whom was busy hauling a Quarian engineer on a stretcher with the assistance of a random Asari.

"Second Lieutenant Flavius?" Justus parroted the Turian's name.

"Sir, yes, sir." Flavius turned and saluted the fellow Turian captain.

"Go along. I'll be following you." Justus gestured nonchalantly, exiting the infirmary and walking along Flavius' right side, "I heard that you were the highest ranking marine alive."

"Gladly, sir. And for a moment, we worried you weren't coming out alive."

"Likewise."

For a moment, the two Turians were silent as they navigated the dim and derelict hallways of the once sleek and shiny science ship.

"Now, first order of business." Justus cleared his throat and sternly asked, "Give me your casualty report."

"Out of the thousand marines on board, 190 are dead, 650 are wounded, 105 are missing, and ... well ... the rest of us are alive."

_"Shit."_ Justus cursed internally, although it didn't take long for him to make a calculation out loud, "That leaves you with 55 able-bodied men and women."

"Seems that way. Unless we arm everyone with a gun, we can probably boost that number to a thousand."

"Alright, but let's not get ahead of ourselves. For now, I need to know the ship's damage as much as possible. What have you found?"

"The forward bulkheads are gone, sir. It's like a mangled deck of cards down there. Hell, we're still sifting through bits and pieces of the wreck, and so far, the only things we're finding are body parts and sand."

"Sand?"

"Yes, sir. Sand and more fucking sand."

"Hmm..." Justus curiously growled to himself, although it didn't take long for Flavius to continue nonetheless.

"Judging from our assessments, it appears that we're deeply embedded in the ground, and we have a slight 11° slope."

"That's not bad, although that provides no assurance to our defenses."

"Well, the keel decks are completely demolished along with the sensory arrays down there. While we were at it, we discovered a ten meter long gash in the adjacent cargo bays."

"Did you manage to barricade it off?"

"Negative, sir. Much of the floor down there had collapsed; it's nothing but sand and debris down there. The best I could do was allocate enough marines to create a defensive barrier. Otherwise, it's inadequately defended."

Justus was about to move his mandibles and ask, 'define inadequate', but those words were immediately held back in his throat when Flavius spoke first.

"Fortunately, the cargo bay is the only way in or out of this ship."

"What about the starboard aft?"

"Starboard aft?"

The two Turians stopped in the middle of the hallway, with Justus turning completely towards Flavius and frowned.

"You didn't know?"

"No, sir. But hell, that reminds me. Where the hell is Yinsen? We discovered more than a dozen crates filled with Geth parts, all of them enough to fully assemble five Geth troopers with a small inventory of upgrades."

"Geth?" Justus frowned suspiciously, although he broke eye contact with Flavius for a moment to ponder internally, "I was never informed of this. Why the hell am I knowing of this now?"

"Don't ask me, sir. All I know is that the Quarians and Salarians have a lot of explaining to do. If I recall, no synthetics were supposed to be allowed on this ship."

"Yes, I remember that." The Turian captain crossed his arms and nodded agreeably; however, a few seconds barely transpired when he froze and his frown morphed into a blank expression.

"Sir?"

At that moment, a 'hmph' faintly huffed through Justus' mandibles, although it was merely a way to censor his internal chuckling. Unfortunately, the only thing Flavius saw was a partially annoyed scowl on Justus' face. On the inside, however, Justus couldn't help but realize something, _"Yinsen, you crafty bastard. No wonder you went all quiet on me. I guess you're-"_

"Sirs!" A random Turian marine rushed from down the hall and hastily saluted to his fellow compatriots, "Captain, good to see you, your timing is impeccable."

"Catch your breath, Lucius." Flavius barked as he and the captain turned towards the yellow-tattooed sergeant, "What's the matter?"

"You won't believe this ... but ..." Lucius panted, displaying his unnerving mixture of panic and uncertainty, although his discipline and professionalism was the only thing that kept him a composed individual, "We have contacts inbound, and it's not the Aparoids."

Without hesitation, however, Flavius cursed lowly at the news, "Shit...!"

"Take me there." Justus simply yet sternly commanded, unfazed by the startling turn of events.

"Sir?" Flavius blinked, with Lucius about to follow as well.

"Take me to the cargo bay at once. I need to assess the situation."

Flavius hesitated at first, swiveling his head to Lucius before looking back Justus. With a momentary pause, Flavius made a slight flinch and nodded, "Right this way, captain."

With nothing more than the sparse lighting of the mangled hallways, the Turian trio ventured ahead, with Flavius and Lucius leading ahead with haste. A moment later, there was an opened doorway upon making a left turn, where bright sunlight shined through it to create a white gateway. Slightly surprised, Justus used his left hand to shield his face, all the while as Lucius charged ahead and Flavius shielded himself momentarily.

Once they broke through, the eerily familiar landscape of endless desert sand and bushes faded into Justus' view. There was a long debris field that extended for more than two kilometers, strewn with bits and pieces of metal and superstructure belonging to the ship. Gigantic drag marks could be seen within the sand as well, along with several hills missing their tops and a handful of forcibly uprooted bushes and weeds.

Half of the scene was shaded from the afternoon, however, characterized by crates (partially buried or lying on top of the sand), and fellow Turian marines assuming defensive positions behind the remains of the ship. Speaking of positions, Justus didn't need much to see that there were 30 Turians. But that was where his fears were confirmed.

That was when Justus was halted by the sight of a looming threat in the distance.

Silently taking a pair of binoculars offered by a random marine, Justus saw small clouds of dust billowing behind a column of wheeled vehicles. Zooming up close, every single vehicle had an olive green color scheme, and each of them have distinctive white markings on them. The most distinctive markings of them all was a white star on their hoods and sides.

The alien vehicle column approaching the ship was divided into three sizes: small, medium, and turreted.

The small ones have four wheels and had a cloth-like canopy protecting the driver and passengers underneath. Then, there were the medium ones, which had six wheels, and have a khaki cloth-like canopy, hiding a flatbed area underneath. Finally, there was the turreted ones, which were most concerning.

"Sir," Lucius chimed in, curious yet ever so worried of the impending doom, "Are those ... APCs?"

"Mmm..." Justus hummed stoically, maintaining his cool and calm composure without waning from his binoculars, "Doesn't look like it."

Lowering his binoculars at last, however, he stood firmly and pointed at the turreted vehicles, subsequently describing his assessment, "Their too short, and they're using metal tracks. But don't get me wrong, they're propulsion is primitive yet brutal; you're feeling the full weight of that vehicle come onto you. Not to mention, they're still using gunpowder firearms."

"Gunpowder weapons?" Flavius chirped with partial surprise.

"Aye." Justus gestured with the fingers on his right hand, "I have eyes sharp enough to see the rifling in their barrels."

"Uh huh..." Flavius nodded with some amusement in his tone, bobbing his head up and down slightly as he pondered on the captain's findings, "Oh how primitive."

"I wouldn't take that lightly, Lieutenant." Justus sternly and stoically warned, putting his hands on his hips and looking at the approaching convoy, "That's a 90mm warhead coming at us with the speed of a sniper rifle. Slow and big, yes. But brutal, oh hell yes."

"You say that as if you been shot with one of those." Flavius sassed, "No offense, sir. But you seem to know much about primitive weaponry."

"You can thank our pre space ferrying history for that kind of knowledge."

"Welp ... better hope the locals don't fire that thing at us. From the way you're describing, it looks like a self-propelled artillery gun."

"Correction: it's a battle tank."

The moment Justus said that, almost every Turian looked at him.

"Tanks?" A random marine chirped curiously.

"Mhm."

"Shit..."

"Rest assured, corporal. It's going to take more than a barrage of chemical-propelled warheads to demolish this ship. If they decide to fire on us, we have missiles and the Asari to stop them. Need I say more?"

"No, sir!" The marine ... no, all the marines, saluted enthusiastically, swiveling their heads back at the approaching column of vehicles.

"Captain." Flavius said in utter concern.

"Hmm?"

"How the hell are we going to communicate with these primitives?"

"Tanya."

"Sir?"

"I've sent Tanya to go find Yinsen, and so-"

Suddenly, his holographic earpiece lit up, "Captain, where are you? I have Yinsen with me."

"Never mind." Justus deadpanned to Flavius before directing his voice at the earpiece, "Tanya, make your way to the cargo bay. Don't ask please, just do it."

"Yes, sir."

Deactivating his earpiece, Justus looked over at Flavius, "Lieutenant, brace yourself. We're about to venture into unknown territory."

"Aye aye, cap." The Turian Marine Lieutenant cautiously saluted back with a curt nod.

But just when Flavius was about to proceed to a defensive position behind two crates, he turned to Justus and brandished his pistol in his right hand, all the while holding his Phaeston assault rifle in the left hand.

Immediately recognizing the offer, Justus swiveled his head sideways, politely declining the weapon, "That won't be necessary. Now, to your stations."

"Yes, sir." Flavius obliged and holstered his pistol, proceeding to head for cover and leaving Justus to stare into the face of probable death or a new chapter in galactic history...


	4. Chapter 3 (Breach)

**-(Cascade Effect)-**

**Chapter 03**

* * *

🎶 **-(**_**Play BGM: "MW3 Soundtrack - Scouting the Enemy"**_**)-** 🎶

Unbeknownst to Justus and his crew, another bird of prey had took over the skies.

Geena Preddy was originally giving her P51 striker unit a test run; however, it was more like herself needing a test run. At the age of 21 years old, there was an imminent moment where her magic would suddenly vanish forever. By the age of 20 and above, a witch will begin to lose their magic, and Geena was no exception.

Luckily, today was a good day ... except for the sight of a giant flying saucer partially embedded in the Azteca Nueva Desert!

She was originally scheduled to return earlier this morning and prepare to train a cadre of greenhorn witches; however, she had been instructed an hour ago by the Army Air Force Command to arrive at the crash site and maintain overwatch. Now, noon had arrived, and the army had finally scramble towards the crash site, apparently tipped off by some local ranchers not long ago. The USAAF could've sent somebody else, but the Roswell Army Air Field only had inexperienced and newly trained witches - only a veteran like Geena could go a mission with such uncertainty until reinforcements arrive.

It was bright outside, and the Roswell breeze wasn't helping much to cool Geena. But the sun was least of her concerns. Other than the crash site, what really made her day even more stressful was the reinforcements that arrived a few minutes ago...

No, it wasn't the army down below.

It was the whirring sound of a pair of jet engines to her right (3 o'clock), belonging to a P-80 Shooting Star Jet Striker. It was none other than a fellow Liberion witch, Ruby Olds, the daughter of the Great War era pilot, Robert Olds. With her black short hair and white hawk ears and tail billowing in the wind, Ruby Olds was like the twin sister Geena never had; however, that was the problem...

Ruby Olds' eyes were twitching every so often, almost squinting like an attack dog, ready to pounce at the slightest signs of trouble. It was unlike Geena, whom was calm, composed, and cold, thoroughly analyzing the situation with the eyes of a hawk. Speaking of which, Geena was using her magical ability, Hawkeye, to watch the crash site from afar; however, Ruby Olds' arrival was rather unwelcome company from the USAAF, because Ruby's presence reeked of cockiness and fearlessness.

While Ruby was a 18 years old witch veteran herself, Geena was utterly uncomfortable with the fellow Liberion witch. Of course, Geena maintained her featureless and expressionless composure, and having a wingman at her side was beneficial for an aging witch like herself. Who knows if Geena's magic might sputter and she'll fall out of the sky without warning.

"Doesn't look like a Neuroi." Ruby remarked nonchalantly yet boringly at the distant crash site below.

"You want to do my job?" Geena deadpanned calmly and coldly, not even bothering to look at the fellow witch.

"No, ma'am. Not at all." The younger witch stammered, maintaining a toothy grin to mask her wrongdoing, "I just feel like we're wasting our time up here watching nothing."

Deep down, Geena was cranky about the perplexing turn of events. She loves schedules, and to simply be thrown off routine was an uncomfortable and unacceptable change ... or at least for a battle-damaged girl like herself. Now, her day was getting worse with the presence of this battle-hungry daredevil at her side.

"I'm just saying." Ruby shrugged as the older witch said nothing back other than a silent metaphorical cold shoulder.

But then, Geena saw the M26 Pershing Tanks stop about 500 yards away from the crash site; however, the jeeps and trucks kept going. For the next minute, the convoy got closer and closer until they were a hundred yards from the wreckage. Once they came to a halt, troops started to exit from the trucks.

"Welp ... here we go." Ruby whistled as she watched the army troops scrambled to defensive positions.

From Geena's point of view, however, the men were on the verge of showing fear on their stern faces. She can see the slight respiratory heaving in some of the men's chests, not from hustling all over the place, but rather from anxiety lurking from within. But there was job to be done, and the troops needed to stay calm.

Curious to what the troops were aiming their guns, Geena shifted her eyesight to metaphorical elephant in the room...

The disc-shaped UFO.

Unfortunately, Geena and Olds were flying out of view to see the underside of the ship, but the topside view as noteworthy nonetheless.

"Hey, Commander." Ruby chirped, "Is it me, or do I spy a telltale laser cut on that thing?"

"Oh?" Geena blinked expressionlessly, unimpressed by her wingman's findings.

"Take a look at the starboard section."

Heeding her wingman's advise, Geena zoomed her sights at the stern section of the ship, which was facing the convoy. At first, she didn't see anything regarding Ruby's remark, especially since there were so many chunks of metal and debris scattered across the desert. But as she was about to turn around, she saw it.

There it was at the starboard stern section; a five meter long diagonal cut was there. Unfortunately, the hull suggested that the precision cut had cleaved through much more of the ship. Judging from the jagged edges of the derelict ship, it looked like the cut was much longer, but the crash landing had made it shorter.

"Hmm, battle damage." Geena deduced out loud, "Made by Neuroi indeed."

This would've been a moment that Ruby would say 'ah ha' in a hawkish smile, but surprise was planted on her face. As a matter of fact, Ruby lips moved and mouthed 'no way', completely betraying her cockiness for the moment. Even more so, her eyes shifted back and forth between Geena and the UFO itself.

"What the hell is going on down there?" Ruby Olds grumbled to herself.

But moments after saying that, Geena nudged her head to the left, suggesting a shallow left break. Obediently, the younger witch followed, not going too fast to overshoot her commander, yet not going too slow to stall the straight-winged jet striker. Once the duo turned around, they were flying on the other side of the UFO.

Although flying in the opposite direction of the ship for the moment, the underside was slowly returning into view.

But it was from Geena and Olds' point of view that they spotted something...

"I see movement, under the ship." Ruby called out to Geena; however, the 21-year-old witch was unfazed by the younger witch's notification.

That was because Geena's eyes were zoomed in at the ship's mangled underside. Large bits and pieces of metal were either hanging from the ceiling, whatever was left of the floor, or strewn about from its long path of destruction. But it wasn't the sorry state of the ship that caught Geena and Olds' attention.

Emerging from the disemboweled underside of the ship, a figure walked into afternoon daylight.

A tall elongated humanoid creature came into view, and one of the first things that Geena noticed about this ... alien ... was its skin. It had this orange-white colored flesh, and distinctive ovular eyes found on salamanders and frogs. Speaking of amphibians, the creature in question was SKINNY; its limbs and digits were like sticks!

Shifting her eyes between that bipedal amphibian and the familiar humans, the alien easily towered over almost everyone except for a few soldiers. Being able to see from long ranges with extreme clarity, Geena saw that the alien had two fingers and one thumb on each hand. From neck to toe, it wore white armor with red accents.

Judging from the lack of weapons, whether it being the lack of a holster, slung weapons, or a load-bearing harness in any shape or form, the alien was unarmed. But as the Second Neuroi War had taught her, looks can be deceiving. The limbs on this creature might be thin, but only god knows if the amphibian is agile and fast.

Unfortunately, the bipedal salamander wasn't alone.

Not far behind, another figure emerged into view. Unlike the amphibian, this creature was ...

"A bird?" Geena uncharacteristically blurred out loud, recoiling her head slightly backwards.

"Did you say something?" Ruby chirped, whom wasn't able to completely distinguish both figures like Geena.

In response, Geena simply shook her head sideways, pretending like Ruby was just imagining things.

Unfortunately...

"What the hell?" Ruby frowned firmly, vaguely able to see what was happening down below, "Is it me, or do I see a bipedal lizard and a ... what the hell is the other one? A walking dino-bird?"

_"Ah shit."_ The older witch grumbled internally, _"You and your big mouth."_

"Commander, don't tell me you're not seeing what I'm seeing."

"You don't need to shout; I read you."

"Then, what the hell are those ... creatures ... down there?"

"That's what I'm trying to figure out."

Taking a closer analysis of the bipedal avian, the amphibian stood a few inches taller than the bird. But the one thing that both aliens shared in common was three digits on each hand and foot. But unlike the amphibian, everything about the humanoid bird was a stark and sharp contrast ... literally and metaphorically!

The armor worn by the avian creature was minimalist and blue, clearly designed to maximize protection without sacrificing range of locomotion. It wasn't light and thin like that on the amphibian. Quite interestingly, underneath the armor and clothing, there were claws on each digit, with the feet clearly digging into the ground.

Looking at the bird's face, Geena recoiled slightly again, shuttering to the unexpectedly startling facial features. This bird of prey in question had sharp forward-facing eyes, and if she isn't mistaken, she could've sworn she saw sharp rows of teeth hidden behind those bony lips and mandibles. Ah and that reminded her.

Judging by the slight reflections beaming off of the bird of prey's head, the exoskeleton was very likely to be metallic. Although that was very hard to believe, because the only creature to having such a shiny outer skeleton were beetles. Nonetheless, there was some kind of blue artwork painted on the front of its face.

Due to the ever so slight reflections, she couldn't accurate distinguish the face paint on the bird's head, but that was irrelevant for the time being. For now, she had two individuals very likely to turn hostile at any given moment. There were so many ways this could go wrong, and Geena needed to be ready to spring into action.

But at the same time, she needed to make sure that Ruby Olds didn't go off the hook like she did in 1944.

"Oh no you don't!" Ruby suddenly shouted, breaking off to the right and throttling the her jet striker's Allison J33 engines.

Geena barely had a chance to open her lips and exclaim at the younger witch, but her stoic and stern facade remained. Breaking off as well, Geena took chase after Ruby, whom had already left the older witch in the dust. Like a bloodhound, Ruby maintained her heading, taking the duo further and further away from the crash site.

For an aging witch like Geena, her P-51 striker unit could only manage to throttle up to 437mph, while the P-80 can fly at 600mph. Again, Ruby was like a dog that escaped its leash; there was no stopping her now that she caught wind of something. But as the duo flew further away from the crash site, that was just it...

There was nothing up ahead!

But before Geena could bark at the hawkish witch, Ruby raised her M2 Browning machine gun and unleashed a ten round burst in front of her. It seemed like the younger witch was firing at nothing, and it truly appeared so. Then about a hundred yards away, the bullets shattered or ricochet in brilliant displays of sparks and tracers.

Within seconds, a distortion revealed itself, and a triangular-shaped Neuroi appeared. With a wingspan about the length of a Fletcher Class Destroyer, the Neuroi had a classical wing shape - a common form of aerial Neuroi. But this was one had no curves whatsoever; it looked like a pair of triangular-like bat wings.

Almost immediately, Geena reversed the throttle on her P51 striker unit, and her left hand reached for her headpiece, "Colonel Hardings, we have Neuroi contact bearing northwest!"

"Contact?!" Hardings cried surprisingly; however, there was a strong undertone of shock, along with...

Gunshots in the background?!

"Geena...!" Hardings barked rather panicky, "We're under attack by Neuroi as well! How the hell did you and your wingman not see them?!"

"Sir?" Geena frowned confusingly, momentarily looking at the younger witch, whom was firing her M2 Browning at the decloaked flying wing Neuroi, "What're you talking about?"

"What am I TALKING about?! A goddamn Neuroi had came out of nowhere and dropped troops all over us!"

"My partner, though. She-"

"I know, but you need to get here in the next minute! We need air support ASAP!"

How the hell did a second Neuroi slip past a pair of veteran witches like Geena and Ruby? Surely, Ruby managed to sense and revealed the location of this apparently invisible Neuroi, but that didn't explain how Ruby's magical sixth sense ability failed to detect the other Neuroi. There was only one thing that made sense, and-

"Commander!" Ruby hollered on the radiowaves, with the sound of her 12.7mm machine gun and the whining of the P-80 jet striker's engines in the background, "There aren't any guns on this behemoth!"

"What?!"

"But my 50 cal is barely putting a dent in it!"

🎶 **-(**_**BGM Ends: "MW3 Soundtrack - Scouting the Enemy"**_**)-** 🎶

🎶 **-(_Play BGM: "MW2 Soundtrack - The Hornet's Nest"_)-** 🎶

That's when Geena made a terrible realization...

"Ruby, stop shooting! It's a decoy!" Geena exclaimed, "I repeat, it's a decoy!"

"Decoy?!" Ruby stammered and her machine gun fell silent, "Then, where's...?!"

There was an uncomfortable silence that befell between the two veteran witches, but Geena had already turned around and began racing back to the crash site. Against her own magic well-being, Geena throttled as fast as she could, nearly deafened by the manic chopping of the propellers. How did this go so wrong?!

"Ah shit!" Ruby cursed vulgarly on the radio, "I'm on my way!"

Ignoring her fellow wingman's realization and acknowledgement, Geena brought her M2 Browning to her right shoulder, but she didn't start shooting. Rather, she watched the crash site slowly lumber into view, where she was greeted to a disaster unfolding. Specks of black were all over the site, spewing streaks of red at everyone.

To her horror, there was no sight of the Neuroi dropship, but there were plenty of Neuroi humanoid forms and small multi-limb crawlers on the ground. Only if a certain Karlslander was here that this was a party waiting to happen. Unfortunately, Geena didn't have a cannon, bomb, or rockets - only her trusty M2 Browning was here.

A few of the cars were smoldering wrecks, but most of the trucks were still intact, albeit with their canvas covers burned off and laser burn marks riddling their bodies. US troops were cowering behind whatever cover was available, dodging all the small-arms laser fire and shooting back whenever they had a merciful chance.

None of the M26 Pershings were destroyed, but most of them had suffered numerous laser hits. Some of them no longer had tracks on them, immobilized and unintentionally burying themselves partially in the sand. Nonetheless, the tanks fired their machine guns and 90mm main guns at whatever they could see.

An immobilized tank fired its 90mm cannon at a ladybug-like Neuroi, instantly demolishing it into a million pieces. But if that wasn't enough, the shell overpenetrated and embedded itself into the ground, exploding into a fireball and shooting fragments everywhere. Unfortunately, a cloud of sand shrouded the collateral damage.

A nearby Pershing limped to the stranded tank's aid, halting ten yards away from its left and swiveling its turret at the small cloud of dust. A large silhouette was barely seen before the other Pershing fired, but a laser beam cleaved through the sand and smelted its turret. Nonetheless, the shell demolished the unseen Neuroi.

Nearby, a soldier clambered on top of an immobilized Pershing, racking the charging handle on the turret mounted M2 Browning. With desperation, the soldier aimed left and fired at a platoon of Neuroi humanoid forms, whom were closing in on an overturned truck. Despite incoming laser fire, the soldier ducked his head slight, luckily unscathed.

But without any further hesitation, she spotted a ladybug-like Neuroi approaching the machine gunner from a range of 300 yards. The ladybug was well-armed, retaining three laser emitters on each side of its elytra. Despite the firepower, there was one spot Geena knew where to hit.

Firing a three round burst, the 12.7mm armor-piercing high-explosive bullets zipped through the air. Their journeys ended when they slammed into a tiny gap on the anterior side of the pronotum. Almost instantly, the ladybug's head exploded forward, with the body immediately turning limp and exploding into harmless shards.

"The bigger they are, the harder they fall." Geena mused humbly as she turned her attention to the right, returning her attention to the turretless tank and the immobilized tank next to it. The crew from the turretless tank were cautiously exiting their vehicle, looking around before one of them got onto the immobilized tank.

Charging the handle on the turret-mounted M2 Browning, the rest of the crew took cover between the tanks, trapped left and right by incoming laser fire and dust. Looking where the machine gunner was shooting, there were multiple platoons of Neuroi infantry congregating around some trucks. Thankfully, the problem was under control.

Then, her eyes wandered again, where she saw two dozen mantis-like Neuroi attempting to rip open various parts of the flying saucer UFO's topside. Since she was about to fly over the crash site within half a minute, she fired at the base of their thorax and abdomen. In the right hands, the Browning was a beautifully thunderous beast.

Boom!

Boom, Boom!

Boom!

Boom!

Boom ... Boom, Boom, Boom!

Boom!

Boom, Boom!

Boom!

Boom!

Boom ... Boom!

Boom!

Sadly, thirteen out of 24 mantis Neuroi were left standing as she flew over the battlefield. But she didn't stop to look back at them. There were simply too many damn Neuroi on the ground! They're everywhere!

She counted ten ladybug Neuroi, thirteen Mantis Neuroi, and nearly a company of humanoid Neuroi! Although it was utter madness, Geena didn't lose her cool. She was too high up for the Neuroi to hit her; however, distance was her only defense, especially since her magic was at a questionably state due to her age.

Experience had told her not to stop and hover, especially since the Neuroi can be anywhere. With the mysterious Neuroi dropship lurking anywhere, Geena needed to be on the look out. Speaking of which...

She relieved her trigger finger for barely a second when her eyes caught a slow moving blur zipping across the desert floor. Judging from the straight wings and telltale humanoid shape, Geena couldn't help but sigh heavily at the distant sight of Ruby Olds. To her near dismay, she watched as Ruby zoomed towards the UFO's topside.

Ruby unleashed an angry wall of lead at the 13 Mantis Neuroi, mowing them down like a farmer cutting weeds with a scythe. Acrobatically, Ruby performed several aileron rolls and tight turns to avoid the mantises, whether it be their arms or legs. She was like a dancer, gracefully flowing around the Neuroi without hesitation or fault.

Given her phenomenal high speed, the wind that followed behind her blew off some of the mantises, whom were already disintegrating into countless pieces of glass. While she was at it, Olds maneuvered into a right high yo-yo. In simple words, she climbed up and looped back down in a dive to double check for stragglers.

Unlike Geena, Ruby was flying down low, nearly on the knife edge of touching the Azteca Nueva desert floor. Sand and debris billowed behind the magic jet exhaust, blinding both friend and foe. Despite this, Ruby was on a killing spree, leaving behind a path of destruction with her M2 Browning.

_"Hmph..."_ Geena internally grumbled, shaking her head humbly as she positioned into a shallow right turn, _"Show off."_

Nevertheless, Geena steadily aimed her sights downrange at a dozen Neuroi humanoid forms converging on several trucks. The trucks were trying to set themselves up to create a wagon fort, but the leading truck had its front tires melted off. Several squads of US soldiers were cowering behind the trucks - they were in trouble!

Calmly, she let off a handful of precision bursts, hitting the humanoid Neuroi in the heads or torsos. Small puffs of sand and dirt exploded in the distance wherever her shots traveled. Although as she was about to aim her sights on the last three humanoid Neuroi, several US rifleman popped out and finished off the survivors.

"Commander," Colonel Hardings came on the line, with laser and gunfire heard in the background, "Give me an update. How many Neuroi are on the ground?"

Taking a moment to survey the battlefield, although that didn't stop her from mowing down a ladybug Neuroi.

"I count five ladybug Neuroi, and some 26 odd humanoid Neuroi, sir." Geena effortlessly reported, all the while embracing the booming and clacking of her M2 Browning.

"Good to hear." Hardings sighed partially in relief, "And don't worry about your wingman; her actions are speaking for itself. But please, tell her to-"

A thick laser beam came out of nowhere, however, cleaving through a truck that was approaching the partial wagon circle. A bunch of troops were crowded around that particular truck, and very few of them were able to stand up. Most of the others were either dismembered or burned from the subsequent explosion.

Immediately tracing the source of that laser beam, Geena spotted a medium-sized Neuroi with the appearance of a camel spider. It had emerged out of the ground with a might whoosh of sand, armed with a large laser emitter hidden behind its chelicerae. With supernatural speed and agility, it began to sprint towards the trucks.

A hail of gunfire, however, slammed into its abdomen, tergites, and carapace, belonging to none other than Ruby. Screeching over the camel spider Neuroi at 600mph, the jet engines deafened and blinded the Neuroi, causing it in turn to unleash a high pitched death scream. Nonetheless, a cloud of dust billowed at the trucks.

🎶 **-(_BGM Ends: "MW2 Soundtrack - The Hornet's Nest"_)-** 🎶

Luckily, Hardings had returned on the line, coughing heavily on the other end from the dust generated by the earlier explosion of the truck, combined with Ruby flying overhead, "Commander, two things! Please, put a leash on your wingman ASAP, goddammit! That was too fucking close! And lastly, good shooting!"

"Yes, sir." Geena replied simply and humbly, but internally, she was snarling.

Lowering her M2 Browning, she found herself in a straight path, surveying the steadily quieting battlefront. There were barely a dozen humanoid Neuroi sparsely spread out, with three ladybug Neuroi crawling around as well. Looking to her left, she spotted one of the ladybugs attempting to flank around the partial wagon circle.

But a 90mm tank shell smashed through the left side of the beetle, overpenetrating it and embedding itself into a second ladybug Neuroi a couple seconds later. The shell failed to detonate in the second ladybug, however, while the first one shattered into countless Neuroi shards. Despite the damage, the second one was still alive.

Not wasting a chance, however, Geena unleashed a five round burst, where the bullets ricochet in midair...

Wait a minute ... midair?

🎶 **-(_Play BGM: "MW2 Soundtrack - Waveoff"_)-** 🎶

Lo and behold, a familiar distortion revealed itself and a large flying wing Neuroi appeared into view.

Unlike the other one, this Neuroi had red patches synonymous with laser emitters - this had to be it!

Almost immediately after uncloaking, the Neuroi fired its lasers at the older Liberion witch.

Instinctively raising her magic shields, Geena found herself being tossed backwards. This wasn't suppose to happen! Her striker unit was supposed to have enough thrust to prevent her from being pushed back by Neuroi lasers; however, when Geena recovered from half a dozen spins, she found herself briefly free falling.

Luckily, the magic turbines in her P51 striker unit sputtered back to life, allowing her to regain stability and lift. Reaching her hands in front of her face, her M2 Browning was no longer in her arsenal. She was disarmed!

But she had no time to gasp when she reactively spun to her left, narrowly dodging an incoming laser beam from the flying wing Neuroi. Then, she raised her shield momentarily to stop another laser beam. Cleverly yet hastily, however, she used the laser to push herself away from the Neuroi in a dive, granting her extra speed.

Flying away and gradually climbing upward, Geena escaped the laser barrage and gaining valuable distance.

"Ruby!" Geena alerted Ruby on the radiowaves with a heavy pant, "I found the real one! It's heading straight for the crash site again!"

"Way ahead of you!" Ruby happily chirped back with the screech of the jet engines roaring from Geena's right, unintentionally knocking Geena off balance for a moment.

"Ruby, slow down." The older witch sternly ordered as she spun once and staggered forward for a moment, "I don't even have a weapon."

"Then go find one! I'll keep 'em busy!"

Without any further words, Geena gave a distant curt nod to the younger witch before promptly looking down at the crash site below and dove downward.

🎶 **-(_BGM Ends: "MW2 Soundtrack - Waveoff"_)-** 🎶

🎶 **-(_Play BGM: "MW2 Soundtrack - Roach's Fall"_)-** 🎶

But she was barely a few thousand feet above the ground when the radio crackled loudly, "Commander, look out!"

Barely stopping and turning around quickly, Geena's eyes dilated instantly as she raised a magic shield. A stray laser beam from the Neuroi dropship slammed into her. Luckily, this was an ordinary attack by the Neuroi.

Her shield, however, disagreed and a tiny streak of the laser bypassed her magic. Then, an explosion thundered in her right leg. Before she knew it, all thrust had been lost and the laser slammed her downwards; however, before she was sent was sent spinning around in a free fall, the laser finally dissipated.

Her right striker unit was in flames, and with her signature goshawk ears and tail still present, she was a partially burning wreck. The desert floor was imminent, and there was no way she could stop her fall in time. Before she knew it, she spun her head around just in time and put her hands out, only to hit something.

Geena is dead...

🎶 **-(_BGM Ends: "MW2 Soundtrack - Roach's Fall"_)-** 🎶

* * *

**-(Review Replies)-**

**(_Chronos0305_):** The Sol System Neuroi are looking for resources because they need a place to breed, evolve, and regain their strength. Pluto is good because its faraway and good in resources; however, its orbit is too eccentric, and it lacks the perfect atmosphere, temperature, and comfort to nurture large Neuroi. Not to mention, the lack of a Mass Relay in the Sol System forces the Neuroi to develop other forms of FTL technologies, but Pluto is just not the right place, and the Neuroi at this time are too weak and devolved.

The Gas Giants would shred the Neuroi to pieces, and their moons are too cold and/or toxic; Mars is too cold, dusty, and barren; Venus is too hot and acidic; and Mercury is too hot and fast. Earth is the idyllic solution due to its perfect temperature, atmosphere, environments, and resources needed to create more Neuroi and develop new technologies; however, humanity is a major obstacle to colonizing Earth. Even more problematic for the time, the Neuroi have recently rediscovered sublight travel, and it takes them years to reach any celestial body in the Sol System.

When the Neuroi arrive on Earth, humanity is barely out of its infancy and founding its first civilizations across the world. At the time, the Neuroi were nothing more than tiny parastic creatures, latching onto whatever victim it found and hijack them; however, if the victim didn't bend to its will, the victim would be mentally broken in some shape or form, hence creating sociopaths, psychopaths, serial killers, rapists, autism, and many other forms of mentally defective individuals among humanity. At the same time, many of humanity's mythological creatures, such as, the Nemean Lion, Dragons, Hydra, Moby Dick, and so much more, are of Neuroi origins, falling victim to the Neuroi's covert parasitism and becoming mutated animalistic creatures later to be called, Ratsel.

But as humanity evolved and developed throughout history, it became clear that humanity became used to such mentally disturbed/defective individuals among their kind, completely defeating the purpose of covertly firghtening and mentally breaking humanity. Not to mention, we humans came to fantasize and fascinate over the 'mythical creatures' of Earth, which also defeated the purpose of covertly exterminating humanity. But the last straw arose when certain super biotic-enhanced women began to appear, later to be famously known as the Witches.

Finally, the Neuroi decided enough was enough and they resorted to brute force, culminating into the Neuroi Wars of the 20th Century. It was by the turn of the 20th century that the Sol System Neuroi had developed some new technologies, one of them being teleportation and rediscovered techniques of brainwashing, better known as Indoctrination. In the First War (1914-1918), the Neuroi first tested the accuracy of their teleporters, and by sheer luck, they appeared over Ostmark and Karlsland; however, humanity became deeply entrenched (literally and metaphorically), and they were slowly adapting to the Neuroi, whom quickly realized this revelation and disappeared before humanity could learn any more about them.

Meanwhile, another Neuroi remnant was accidentally discovered by Quarian-Geth Miners around the early 1920s. Sadly, the Quarian Neuroi saw the Geth, attempted to hack them, and when they couldn't corrupt them, the Quarian Neuroi panicked and attacked the Quarian and Geth alike, mistakenly believing the Geth to be Repears. This could've eventually been resolved, but the Quarians were deeply in love with their reformed robots, and the whole galactic community was embracing the triumph in synthetics reformation technology. Thus, it was completely unacceptable to the Quarians, and eventually, everyone, that the Geth would be exterminated by the Neuroi.

Unlike the Neuroi faced by humanity, the Neuroi faced by the Quarians and Geth were on a planet with the perfect perimeters; however, the Quarian Neuroi would've been stopped had the Turians and Quarians launched an assault rather than a blockade. It wasn't because the Turian and Quarian admirals were incompetent, but rather hesitant and uncertain of the unknown threat at hand, and they needed time to conceive a sound strategy; however, time wasn't on their side, because the Neuroi were adapting extremely quickly. Before the Citadel Council knew it, a new threat had emerged and the galaxy is at war again, now being overran by a seemingly unstoppable and ruthless foe.

Back in the Sol System, the Neuroi prepared for a second attempt to directly exterminate humanity and colonize Earth. Ultimately, the Second War (1937-1947) ends with a victorious humanity, thanks to their secret weapon, the Witch. Repeatedly, the Neuroi struggled to counter the Witch because of their magic capabilities, and it was unlike any kind of biotics they ever seen; however, the Neuroi had came close in some instances somewhere in 1944 (events of Strikes Witches Season One), where certain Fusoan witches were nearly indoctrinated by experimental mimicry Neuroi.

Ultimately, the Sol System Neuroi retreat back into space in 1947; however, not long after their second disappearance, a certain disc-shaped science ship arrives, unaware of the isolated Neuroi remnant lurking in this particular star system. The arrival of Captain Justus and his crew under the directive of the Star Trek Initiative would change history forever, because a miracle the galaxy desperately needs had finally been found. This would be the beginning of the end for the Neuroi, whom have terrorized the galaxy for countless millennium; however, they would ultimately play a critical role in the impending return of the Reapers...


	5. Chapter 4 (Contact)

**-(Cascade Effect)-**

**Chapter 04**

* * *

🎶ﾠ**-(**_**Play BGM: "MW3 Soundtrack - Spec Ops Menu"**_**)-** 🎶

Fifteen minute earlier, Captain Justus had his own problems.

"Tanya." Justus grumbled into his holographic earpiece, "Status report."

"Ergh..." The Asari Lieutenant cringed on the other end, "I'm halfway there ... sir."

"I hate to do this to you, but pick up the pace! We have non-Neuroi contacts approaching, ETA one minute."

"I'm doing my best, Justus. This soft exosuit is not exactly..."

There was a gradual pause, but the Turian can tell that the Asari had trailed off rather uncomfortably. Looking at the approaching column of vehicles, the sight of the rubber-wheeled jeeps and trucks, plus the metal-tracked and rifled cannon tanks, were an increasingly frightening sight. Despite their primitive technology, looks can be deceiving.

"Tanya?" Justus chirped with a slanted frown, "Tanya, do you copy?"

Despite his commanding voice, there was no reply coming from the Asari on the other end. To a military man like Justus, minutes felt like seconds, and seconds, felt like nothing. He looked again at the approaching land vehicles, and he saw the tanks stop about 500 yards away from the ship, all the while as the jeeps and trucks continued.

"Tanya?" The avian naval commander cawed sternly.

"C-Captain." A familiar voice replied back, but it wasn't Tanya.

"Ludorth?"

"Yes, it's me." The Salarian scientist hummed back.

"What are you doing on Tanya's frequency? I need to speak with her."

"I know, I know, that's why I'm here. She's not going to make it."

"Make it? I thought that exosuit would help her."

"It-It is indeed, but she can't tolerate the pain any further. Don't worry, she's being carried to the infirmary as we speak."

"No, we need her, or we'll have no idea how to talk with the locals out here."

"Oh?" Ludorth bombinated, surprisingly confident and composed, "That won't be necessary, Captain. We been working on a translation program way before we were attacked. As a matter of fact, we got the program online on my omni-tool."

Justus was stunned by the information, and he couldn't help but grumble internally, _"How the fuck did I not know of this? You Salarians and your secret squirrel shit are really pissing me off."_

"Captain?" Ludorth said slightly apprehensively with a partial echo; however, his voice was clearly heard at the doorway leading into the cargo hold.

"Hmm?" Justus subtly straightened his stature and turned around at the bipedal amphibian in the distance.

"A-Are ... are you alright?" Ludorth asked as he approached the captain.

Disabling his holographic earpiece, Justus fully turned towards the Salarian, "I hope you know what you're doing, because the fate of this entire ship is going to be in your hands."

Watching the timorous Salarian fidgeted slightly, Justus looked to his slight left and spotted another familiar figure.

"Yinsen." Justus stiffly and calmly called to the 5'8ft tall Quarian male, whom is standing to the left of the 6'4ft tall Salarian. Like any other Quarian, Yinsen had the signature enviro-suit. But the one thing that distinguished him from any other engineer was his utility belt and tinted visor; tools and a tablet were neatly secured around his waist.

"Sir." Yinsen simply yet curtly replied back, although his phonology was a bit fast, indicating a hint of fear threatening to seep out.

"And Ludorth."

"Sir?" The Salarian clicked his lips abruptly yet momentarily.

"I have many questions, and one of them is staring right in front of you." Justus pointed out to the Salarian and Quarian, "You see these crates around you?"

"Yes." Ludorth and Yinsen replied in near unison.

"What your people did is unacceptable, Ludorth."

"B-But ... I don't underst-"

"You know exactly what I'm talking about. Your people smuggled synthetics on this ship in violation of STI protocols. I like you, but you're as guilty as the rest of the Salarians on board. You knew of this all along, yet you said nothing." Justus accused, gradually verging away from being a calm and humble parrot to a quietly livid eagle.

Then, Justus turned slightly to Yinsen and directed his disappointment towards him, "Yinsen, you may have gave us power and helped keep this ship together, but I'm simply disappointed."

"Sir, please. I didn't know any of this."

"Of course you did." Justus sarcastically agreed, still maintaining a blank expression on his face, "Unless you send one of your engineers in that reactor room, I can already figure out that you sent a Geth in there instead. That is what makes you equally guilty in this argument."

Almost on instinct, Justus swiveled his head back to Ludorth, and the signature hawkish profile of his Turian appearance was enough to silence the shy scientist.

🎶ﾠ**-(**_**BGM Ends: "MW3 Soundtrack - Spec Ops Menu"**_**)-** 🎶

"Now, I was originally going to assign you a new task." Justus announced to the Quarian; however, before he continued, Justus turned his head to the Salarian, "But since you're here, Ludorth, now is your time to redeem yourself."

"S-S-Sir...?"

Justus only needed to nod his head up and down a few times at the Salarian, confirming Ludorth's task.

"B-But ... a-a-alone?"

"Ludorth, you're pissing me off." The Turian grumbled, clearly emphasizing the rumbling in his throat, "Go outside and get ready. I'll be with you in a second."

"I-I-It ... It's dangerous."

"Get the fuck out."

"In the face of death?"

A couple seconds transpired before Justus walked up close to the Salarian scientist and squinted at him, "Did I stutter?"

"N-No ... sir."

"Then get the fuck out of my sight."

Shriveling up mostly, Ludorth sidestepped and walked down the floor tiles and sand, hesitantly stepping out into the sunlight. Justus didn't even bother turning around to watch the timorous amphibian, not when the Turian was busy diverting his attention to the Quarian. Unlike Ludorth, Yinsen stood firmly in place, neither shuttering or fidgeting.

"As for you, you will not leave my sight until further notice." Justus briefed the Quarian Chief Engineer, "If anything happens to Ludorth, you will be the one to help him. Don't worry about yourself, I'll be watching you. And while you're at it, reassign any major repairs in the hands of your most senior or competent engineers. Need I say more?"

"No, sir."

"Good, now let's go."

Turning around to face the afternoon desert landscape, Justus began to walk down the shallow gradient of immensely buried floor tiles and sand. Before leaving the Turian marines behind in the shelter of the mangled cargo bay, Justus stopped and commanded, "Flavius, until they start shooting at us first, hold your fire."

"Yes, sir." The Turian Marine Lieutenant gave a curt nod, remaining behind cover with his assault resting on the crate.

"The same goes for the rest of you, marines." Justus relayed, earning him a gentle 'URA' from each marine.

🎶ﾠ**-(**_**Play BGM: "MW2 Soundtrack - Favela Tension Orchestra"**_**)-** 🎶

Without a further ado, Justus turned around and walked outside with Yinsen in tow, stepping onto the rough and coarse yellow grains called, sand. Despite being three different species, the Turian captain, Quarian engineer, and Salarian scientist had three digits on each hand and foot. If it not been their clothing, their feet would be burning.

Stopping with the scientist at his left, Justus plainly and seriously asked, "Ludorth, how does this work?"

"Hmm? Oh-Oh-Oh yes ... of course." Ludorth stammered as usual while he continued typing on his omni-tool, with a holographic notification appearing in front of him, "Hours after we crashed, we tapped into their radio transmissions and we let the program listen to it as long as possible. Mind you, we have no idea how much data we acquired."

"Then ... you mean to tell me that we're going to be conversing blindly?!" The Turian captain squinted, suspicious and uncertain at the same time.

"N-No, no, no, not that, sir. I meant we haven't obtained much of their lexicon except for the simplest and basic vocabulary words with a small handful of-"

A creeping gust of sand, however, stopped the trio, and they swivel their heads at the jeeps and trucks.

Not more than 50 yards away from them, a jeep had stopped ahead of the entire column. Five seconds transpired before a figure in olive green clothing emerged from the lead jeep. It was wearing a single-breasted coat with a tie, along with trousers and shoes. On its head, a peaked cap of a matching color shielded the figure from the sun.

But the alien figure in question was unlike anything the Turians, Salarians, and Quarians have ever seen.

Standing at 5'10ft tall, the mysterious humanoid had the shape and appearance of an Asari; however, its facial structure was angular and masculine like a Quarian male. But unlike a Quarian, this humanoid had skin color akin to lightly tanned parchment. Its eyes were like an Asari; however, the eye shape is square-shaped like a man.

Even more distinctive, its locomotion and body shape were masculine; movement is simple and direct. Judging from the slight wrinkles on his face, the Turian and Quarian can only guess that this alien humanoid man was somewhat aged. But to a scientist like Ludorth, the physical features told a story, identifying the man as an adult.

"Fascinating..." Ludorth whistled under his breath, slowly blinking his eyes a few times.

"Ludorth," Justus buzzed authoritatively yet inquisitively, "Is it me ... or am I looking at a highly evolved monkey?"

The Salarian scientist was busy, however, nervously analyzing the strange humanoid. Even though Ludorth was 6'4ft tall, the sight of the humanoid fascinated and terrified the fearful scientist. All the while, Justus and Yinsen stared at the alien in front of them with metaphorical daggers ... or at least for the Quarian engineer.

"Keelah..." Yinsen gawked dreadfully beneath his mask, "They're like us..."

Justus twitched his head, however, apparently hearing the Quarian. But the young Turian captain didn't say anything, refocusing his attention upon the Salarian to his left. Upon laying his forward piercing eyes at the humanoid amphibian, Justus asked, "Is there any way you can transfer that program to me?"

"No." The Salarian shook his head to the sides rather swiftly yet briefly, "W-W-Why you ask?"

"Because we're wasting time. Since you're too afraid to go, I might as-"

"Justus." The Salarian interrupted humbly, causing the shorter Turian to pause with a strong blank expression, "With all due respect, I understand the stakes at hand. Please, do not do my job, especially now. You can't go because all they see is a walking eagle; your looks can kill. And Yinsen can't go, because he looks like a machine."

There was a partially uncomfortable silence between the two species. In this silence, however, Ludorth looked over at the Quarian and murmured, surprisingly calm and composed, "No offense."

"None taken." Yinsen sighed lowly.

At this moment, however, Justus couldn't help but noticed something, "You didn't stutter."

The scientist nodded minutely, "Only because I know we're going to either live or die, that I need to be calm. Since all of the Asari are either occupied or dead, I'm the least threatened creature we have."

"I hope you know what you're doing. We wasted a lot of time bickering, so be on your way. We'll cover you."

"Yes, sir."

Exchanging each other curt nods, Justus watched as the once trepidatious Salarian turned toward the lead jeep and began walking towards their direction. Meanwhile, Justus and Yinsen stood back, with Justus defensively and calmly standing in place, while Yinsen had his legs bent, anticipating to flee. Meanwhile, Ludorth was tranquil and deft.

Although an unarmed scientist, he was about to make history; however, he might also lose his life. Who knew that these unknown humanoids were either violent and uncooperative like the Rachni, or peaceful like when the Asari and Salarians first met each other before the Citadel Council existed. Either way, everyone's fate was in his hands.

As he approached the jeep, the driver was still seated on the left side, where the steering wheel was located. Despite being a non-military personnel, Ludorth can see from the driver's body movement that he was reaching for a holster on his right hip. But the Salarian was unafraid as he stopped five meters away from the jeep.

In front of him was his alien counterpart, the mysterious humanoid man with the peaked cap on his head. Like Justus, the man had a military aura that surrounded him, and Ludorth could tell from the straight and stern stature of the man before him. Curiously, the Salarian can see that the man had five fingers on each hand ... like an Asari.

The two species stared at each other, divided between a insurmountably invincible language barrier. Neither species had never met until now, and the entire situation reeked of gargantuan tension brewing within silence. Knowing that he was going to get shot some way or another, Ludorth took three slow and subtle breaths.

Once he was ready, he slowly raised both his hands, whom earned him the mysterious humanoid soldiers tensing their stances and weapons in their hands. The peaked cap man, however, reached his left hand into the jeep, grabbing the driver's right arm. Then, he shook his head sideways, silently telling the driver to calm down.

The Salarian steadily and easily reached his right hand onto his left forearm, where his omin-tool appeared. Although he was standing with dozens of guns pointed at him, the scientist typed briefly, where his holographic earpiece appeared from the left side of his head. While the omin-tool was still on, Ludorth lowered his arms.

The commanding humanoid looked back at the Salarian, and much to the scientist's surprise, the man walked up to him. With only a few yards in between them, a long and taut pause hung in the air. Despite being humanoid like the Asari or Quarian, the man's face and stature was like a Turian, and the man was shorter than Ludorth!

"hu ɑr ju?" The man finally spoken at last, maintaining his blank and undaunted glare at the humanoid amphibian.

From the scientist's analytical prospective, the words left the man's lips in an inquisitive manner. It was neither threatening nor welcoming, but it was amazing that the man stood face to face with an alien and ask it a question with no fear in his voice, body, or face. Only a Turian could match such courage and discipline towards the unknown.

A few seconds transpired between the two sides, but the translator brought good news...

"Who are you?" The translation program converted the speech to text, whom the Salarian could understand.

Calm and composed, the scientist paused to think of the proper words, which eventually left his lips a few seconds later, "My name is Ludorth. I am the chief scientist of the Talvath. Who am I speaking to?"

From the man's perspective, the only he saw and heard were clicks, ticks, and gentle trills. But in a few short moments, the Salarian's speech was slowly converted into speech. Digitally, Ludorth's voice sounded like a high pitch frog, albeit very robotic, "maɪ neɪm ɪz Ludorth. aɪ æm ðə ʧif ˈsaɪəntɪst ʌv ðə Talvath. hu æm aɪ ˈspikɪŋ tu?"

"aɪm ˈkɜrnəl ˈhɑrdɪŋz ʌv ði ʌs ˈɑrmi. aɪ ˈfɪgjərd ðæt ju ˈɑrənt ðə ˈkæptən ʌv ðɪs ... Talvath, ju spik ʌv."

From the Salarian's point of view, the translation garbled in his earpiece. Given the complexity of the sentence, it took nine intense seconds for the speech to translate. Here is what it finally said, "I am Colonel Harding of the U-S Army. I figure that you are not the Captain of this ... Talvath."

A Colonel? U-S Army?

There were so many questions Ludorth wanted to ask, especially since that was his job. But right now, first contact needed to be established, and the tension begging to be defused. By profession and default, Ludorth is no diplomat, but his duties as a scientist land him in this precarious and meticulous situation.

"ɪz jʊər ˈkæptən stɪl əˈlaɪv?" Hardings asked, remaining stern in spite of the curiosity lingering in his alien voice.

"Yes. In fact," Ludorth sidestepped to the left and turned the right side of his body to Justus and Yinsen, "He is right here."

"wɪʧ wʌn?"

The scientist lazily raised his right finger and pointed it at Justus, whom didn't even flinch at gesture.

"aɪ doʊnt səˈpoʊz hi kæn ˌʌndərˈstænd mi."

"That is correct, but do not worry. I can help you speak with him."

"glæd tu hir. aɪ wɑnt tu tɔk tu hɪm."

With a curt nod, the scientist looked at the Turian captain, and he gestured with his right hand. Understanding the hand signal, Justus put his right hand on the Quarian's chest, halting him in place. With the engineer silently instructed to stay put, Justus relented and walked up to Ludorth and Hardings.

"Justus, this is Colonel Hardings." Ludorth introduced the Turian to the mysteriously humanoid commander, "He says he wants to talk with you."

"Tell him my name is Captain Justus, and ask him what he wants of my presence."

Without a gesture or nod, Ludorth looked at Hardings and relayed the info, "This is Justus. He is the Captain of the Talvath."

Hardings blinked a few times as he looked at the raptor-like humanoid.

"Asari." Hardings abruptly excused himself; however, there was one thing wrong with that word.

"Asari? Do you mean ... you apologize?" The Salarian blinked as well, recoiling his head slightly from the translator's small hiccup.

"Mhm." The colonel nodded up and down rather humbly.

"Then, pardon for my ignorance, but if I may ask you something. What are you doing here?"

"ɪz ɪt nɑt ˈɑbviəs? ju kræʃt ˈɑntu ˈaʊər ˈplænət, ænd wir hir tu klin ʌp ðə mɛs."

Justus chimed in, however, catching Ludorth and Hardings' attention, "What ... what did he say?"

Ludorth only exchanged sign language to his Turian counterpart, not wanting any unnecessary speech to get translated and spoken out loud.

"Oh?"

Frowning at the Turian craning his head slightly to the left, the Salarian frowned modestly at the response.

But Justus understood Ludorth's confusion and added, "I don't know if you know this already, but he cannot have this ship."

Ludorth was about to move his lips to express his concerns as well, but it immediately sealed back up when he realized the sensitivity of the translator.

Nevertheless, his Turian counterpart concluded, "But if he wants to be trusted, tell him to order his troops to stand down at once, and we'll do-"

"Captain!" Yinsen hollered, his voice digitally crackling from his helmet microphone, "Aparoid, ten o'clock!"

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Instantly and instinctively turning to the Quarian, Justus and Ludorth spotted a spine-chillingly familiar sight...

At surprisingly low altitude, a flying wing shaped Aparoid was approaching from the front port side of the downed Salarian science ship. Partially obscured by the downed ship, the Aparoid was emerging from cloak. A hatch from its underbelly opened and dropped dozens of hexagonal-shaped tubes, not caring where they would all land.

"All hands on deck!" Justus cawed as loud as he could, alerting everyone in his vicinity to prepare for battle.

"Yinsen, get back here now!" Flavius hollered from the safety of the ship's cargo bay.

"Go!" Justus whistled to the Quarian, granting him permission to leave.

Although terrified, the Quarian engineered acquiescently and competently turned around and made a run for cover.

Without any warning, Justus dropped down onto the desert floor, albeit not without barking further orders, "Get down! Get down!"

"Get to cover!" Ludorth relayed the information to Hardings, but the translator was garbling among itself, struggling to translate the fast and sudden input of speech.

Realizing the translator's malfunction, Ludorth lurched himself onto Hardings, throwing himself and his alien counterpart to the ground. At the same time, a thunderous zoom and the gigantic black wing of the Aparoid dropship flew over them. Then, a tidal wave of sand and a tube slammed into Hardings' jeep.

Metal and fabric tore each other apart, with the unfortunate driver unleashing a blood-curdling before it was abruptly silenced by the jeep slamming back down onto the ground and exploding into a fireball. Sand flew everywhere as the dropship roared overhead and vanished into invisibility. Suddenly, pandemonium broke loose.

The zips and whoosh of lasers sliced through the dusty atmosphere, followed by the cries and grunts of the humanoid soldiers. But within seconds, bangs and poms thundered back at the Aparoid soldiers. But to Ludorth, Justus, and the crew of the Talvath, they weren't like mass accelerators - the stench of burnt powder lingered.

Lying on top of the shorter yet stockier humanoid, Ludorth kept lying on top of Hardings. The Salarian looked around in all directions, attempting to see through the sandstorm among all the small arms fire. But beneath him, Hardings coughed heavily, with his hands attempting to shove the pencil-skinny amphibian off him.

"Please!" Ludorth yelped as he looked down and saw Hardings struggling to get him off, "Stay down!"

"laɪk hɛl aɪ trʌst ju!" Hardings bitterly and venomously snarled, "naʊ gɛt ɔf mi!"

Before the Salarian can plea for his alien counterpart to calm down, a loud thud was heard to the left.

"gɛt ɛm ɔf! gɛt ɛm ɔf!" A fellow humanoid solider among Hardings' species cried, because an Aparoid slasher had clambered on top of him. Fortunately, the soldier moved his head to the left, avoiding the Aparoid's right arm, which was a blade. Although the blade imbedded itself into the ground, the Aparoid used its left hand to grab his neck.

But as soon as the Aparoid took its blade out of the ground, a gunshot smashed its head into pieces. Emerging from the sandstorm, Justus had a pistol in his right hand, storming past the downed humanoid and pulling the trigger a few more times. Downrange in the dissipating fog of war, two Aparoid slashers were shot in the head.

Suddenly, the humanoid on the ground smacked the back of his left hand against Justus' ankle, attracting the Turian's attention and pointing his left hand at something. Looking down and turning around within a second, Justus swiveled around and shot his pistol at an incoming Aparoid rifleman. Sadly, a slasher swung at Justus.

Luckily, the only thing to get destroyed was Justus' pistol, forcibly swiping it out of his hand. Hopping backwards to avoid the slasher's incoming backhand slash, the 6ft tall Turian charged and tackled the slasher onto the ground. Then, Justus used his hands to pin its right arm, where he used his right hand to backhand the slasher's head.

An omni-blade lit up on his right arm, however, decapitating the slasher from that backhand. Once the slasher was decapitated, the whole Aparoid figure disintegrated into harmless glass shards. Not wanting to waste a second, Justus rolled onto his back and stood up. Then, he reached down to the humanoid and lifted him to his feet.

"haʊ lɔŋ hæv ju bɪn ˈfaɪtɪŋ ðə nurɔɪ?" Hardings heaved, turning his head back to Ludorth with partially dilated eyes.

"What?"

"aɪ sɛd..." The humanoid coughed for a moment, "haʊ lɔŋ hæv ju bɪn ˈfaɪtɪŋ ðə nurɔɪ?"

"Neuroi?"

"jɛs! ðoʊz θɪŋz!"

"Oh? You mean ... Aparoids?"

"æpɑ-rɔɪd?"

"Aparoids."

"ɪz ðæt wʌt ju kɔl ðɛm?"

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The scientist only exchanged a curt nod before Justus was seen picking up his pistol, rushed back over, and barked, "Ludorth, come on! We're in the open!"

Almost immediately, Ludorth stammered to his feet, with Hardings accepting the amphibian's assistance. But as he was being lifted to his feet, Hardings couldn't help but rapidly demand, "Urgh, wʌt dɪd hi ʤʌst seɪ?"

The cloud of dust was mostly dissipating by the time Hardings got to his feet, and it became clear just how much danger the scientist and commanders were in. In every direction except directly in front, there were Aparoid/Neuroi slashers and riflemen attacking the unknown humanoids and the crew of the Talvath. It was utter chaos.

"He said we need to get to cover. We're vulnerable out here."

"ɑ jɛs, ðæt riˈmaɪndz mi." Hardings acknowledged as he looked around and saw a nearby truck turned on its left side, "ju ˈdɪdənt ˈænsər maɪ ˈkwɛsʧən əˈbaʊt ðə nurɔɪ."

"Oh, we been fighting them for 25 years."

Hardings didn't hear the reply, however, especially since he until he, Justus, and the fellow soldier were too busy taking cover behind the overturned truck.

"soʊlʤər. neɪm ænd ræŋk?" Hardings barked at his fellow comrade.

"kɔrpərəl ˈɛlɪs, sɜr." The soldier, Ellis, replied back almost robotically.

"ænd ... uh ... lu-dɔr-ð?" The colonel turned his attention to the Salarian, all the while butchering the pronunciation of his name, "dɪd ju seɪ ˈsʌmθɪŋ?"

"Yes. I said we been fighting the Aparoids for 25 years."

Once his speech was translated in a couple seconds, Hardings and Ellis stopped and looked at the Salarian and Turian. It was very scrupulous glare that each humanoid exchanged with their extraterrestrial counterparts. Justus didn't banter a blink or falter in his posture or face, but Ludorth nervously awaited the humanoids' responses.

"dɪd ju seɪ ... 25 jɪrz?" Ellis parroted suspiciously, whom the Salarian simply nodded.

"25 jɪrz?!" Hardings gasped rather flabbergast; however, that partially waned due to his authoritative posture and presence.

"Yes, and they came out of nowhere! We're surprised that your planet hasn't been overran."

"ˈoʊvərˈræn? wi bɪn ˈfaɪtɪŋ ðə nurɔɪ fɔr ˈkaʊntləs məˈlɛniəm!"

Ludorth couldn't believe what the translator was receiving, however, believing that it was a malfunction. But to confirm this, he needed to ask, "I'm sorry ... but ... did you say millennium?"

"wɛl, ɪt ˈwɑzənt ənˈtɪl 33 jɪrz əˈgoʊ, ˌhaʊˈɛvər, ðæt ðeɪ ˈfaɪnəli ʃoʊd ðɛmˈsɛlvz!"

"33 years ago? That's..."

Justus, however, chimed in, "Ludorth, save the statistics for later! Ask him what his people have to offer against the Aparoids! We need to get out of this mess ASAP!"

Nodding at the Turian captain, the scientist relayed, "Hardings, what do you have at your disposal?"

"I have a whole regiment, but only a quarter of it is present!" Hardings' speech translate more clearly than before, "I didn't expect the Neuroi to appear out of nowhere, never mind attacking you and us at once. I can call in reinforcements if we can get to a radio."

"Then what's the channel? I can try and patch you in."

"Will you?" The colonel requested before the explosion of another truck was heard not that far on the other side of the overturned truck, "That will save us a lot of trouble!"

"I can do that!"

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Turning his head to Justus, Ludorth tapped the Turian on the left shoulder, communicating to him with hand gestures.

"Negative." Justus surprisingly denied, whom was busy repeatedly poking around the corner of the truck and firing downrange with his pistol, "I need to stay in touch with the marines and damage control. Unless there is a good reason behind him using such advanced technology, I can't afford to command blindly."

But when he turned around, the Salarian tapped the Turian on the shoulder again, this time with a hard thud than a soft tap.

"What?" The Turian captain sternly frowned as he returned back to cover.

As expected of the scientist's persistence, Justus watched as Ludorth silently communicated with sign language.

"He can call reinforcements?" Justus asked suspiciously, attempting to confirm the Salarian's gesturing, which earned him an affirmative nod from the scientist, "Well tell him it needs to be done fast!"

Exchanging a curt nod to the Turian, Ludorth watched as Justus disabled his holographic earpiece and handed it to Ludorth, whom passed it to Hardings.

"This counts as a radio?" Hardings curiously asked with a suspicious frown on his face.

"Yes."

Shrugging to himself, Hardings clipped the earpiece onto his left ear, where the holographic microphone materialized, completely covering all of his lips.

"Now, how do you patch me...? Oh..." The colonel questioned; however, the words swiftly died in his throat as he watched the frequency channel automatically shuffled before his eyes. Being holographic, he has a miniature heads-up display, which was inexplicably controlled by thought.

"Hmm...?" Ludorth blinked ... albeit a bit dubious.

"Never mind." Hardings shook his head, trying to maintain face and pride.

But before Hardings could figure out the advanced piece of technology attached to his ear, a startling radio transmission broke through on the radiowaves...

"Colonel Hardings, we have Neuroi contact bearing northwest!"

"Contact?!" Hardings cried surprisingly; however, there was a strong undertone of shock and a deep frown, which was threatened by a sliver of panic, "Geena, we're under attack by Neuroi as well! How the hell did you and your wingman not see them?!"

From Ludorth perspective, he had no idea whom Hardings was talking to until he heard the name, Geena.

Hardings would be in silence for a moment as he listened to Geena on the other hand. But once she concluded, he was fuming in anger and desperation, "What am I TALKING about?! A goddamn Neuroi had came out of nowhere and dropped troops all over us!"

Justus had lurched back to cover just as the colonel's reply concluded. Although he had no idea what was being said, he watched as the humanoid used his holographic earpiece. Recognizing the agitated wrinkles in Hardings' face and lips, he could sense the irritation in his voice despite the language barrier.

"I know, but you need to get here in the next minute! We need air support ASAP!"

Curious to the humanoid's barking, Justus crept over to Ludorth and whispered, "What the hell is he saying?"

Simply raising his right hand to shush the Turian behind him, Ludorth asked, "Colonel, what's happening?"

Reaching his left hand onto the earpiece and turning it off momentarily, the wrathful snarl on his face slowly morphed into an uplifting smirk, "Air support is on the way, but their ETA is 60 seconds."

Looking back at Justus, the Salarian relayed the information, whom Justus agreed, "Fair enough. Now, we need to get out of here ASAP. I'm almost out of ammunition."

Ludorth gestured his protest, however, shrugging at Hardings and his soldiers.

"No, I'm not leaving you here!" Justus cawed back, "And you're the only one with the translator!"

But the scientist had other ideas, using sign language once again to suggest something to the Turian.

"Are you saying that we use their guns?"

Much to Justus' surprise, the Salarian nodded humbly.

"But they're not designed for Turian hands, never mind Salarian, or Quarian ones."

Suddenly, the twinkling of glass shards shattering were heard above the truck. Looking up, the group saw a Neuroi slasher getting rip to pieces by mass accelerator guns. By now, the sandstorm had cleared up, allowing Justus, Hardings, Ellis, and Ludorth to look around for the shooter, but looked at the ship and saw a familiar face.

Approaching towards their position, there was a team of five Turian marines, all of them armed with assault rifles. Without his holographic earpiece, Justus could only wave back at his fellow Turians, whom gave him curt nods. Acknowledged, the group watched as the marines kept themselves low as they ran towards the overturned truck.

"Sergeant Pyrrhus reporting for duty, sir." A familiar brown-tattooed Turian introduced himself to Justus.

"I thought Flavius instructed you marines to stay put?" Justus frowned as the Turian marine squad approached him.

"I'm afraid that's impossible, sir. We couldn't stand by and watch you and Ludorth get killed."

"Hmm, fair enough."

Looking at Ludorth, a paused hung among the two species before Justus asked, "I need an update on the situation."

Nodding at the orders, the Salarian looked over at Hardings, whom had just got offline a couple seconds ago, "Colonel, what's happening with your regiment?"

"They're divided, and all of them are nearly surrounded. I need to go out there and regroup them. "

Ludorth was no military commander or soldier like Justus, but he couldn't help be ponder, "But you'll be risking their life to save others at the expense. That's not logical of you, because if you die, your whole regiment will die."

"Well, speak for yourself. Your captain is out here with us." The humanoid snapped back at the amphibian, "Haven't you learned that a true commander stays with his own men? I thought you would be more enlightened than us."

It felt like an insult and a denial at the same time, but before the scientist could argue back, Hardings put his right hand up to halt him before using his left hand to accept an incoming call. In a moment, after a few nods, Hardings ended the transmission and he spoke again, "Listen, my tanks are being immobilized as we speak. I need help."

Shaking off the slight frown on his face, the scientist turned his to Justus and relayed the information. Pyyrhus and his squad were standing nearby, attentively interpreting the hand gestures and facial expressions being created by the Salarian. Once the scientist concluded, Justus barked, "Where's the location of his nearest tank?"

Looking at the humanoid, Salarian said back, "Where's your nearest tank?"

Carefully clambering onto the truck and peeking his head over the top, Hardings paused for a few seconds before he looked at Justus and signal with his left hand to come here. Recognizing the context, Justus went on his tip toes and peeked over the overturn chassis. But as soon as Justus and Hardings looked over, they ducked back down.

A laser beam whizzed in between the Turian and Humanoid, prompting the two to duck to cover.

"Pyrrhus, contacts, 12 o'clock!" Justus commanded to the marines; however, before they could get into action, a series of deep 'booms' could be heard beyond the cover of the overturned truck.

It was unlike that of a mass accelerator, where there it was a combination between a 'whoosh' and 'bang'. This gun sounded like a combination between a clanking jackhammer and rumbling drums. Judging from the sound of glass shards sheering and twinkling, the Aparoid soldiers on the other side were getting smashed and ripped to pieces.

Hearing the sounds of Aparoid/Neuroi being torn to pieces, Justus and Hardings peeked over the truck again. Hardings didn't even need to point at the M26 Pershing tank at 200 yards away, with a random soldier manning the turret machine gun. To be sure, Justus pointed his right finger at the tank, whom Hardings nodded affirmatively.

Looking at Pyrrhus, whom he and and his men were crouched like everyone else, Justus hand waved him to cover over and peek over cover. Walking over to their position, Pyrrhus stood next to his fellow Turian captain. Pointing at the tank, Justus ordered, "You see the gunner on that tank? You're to go out there and save its crew. Understood?"

"Yes, sir." Pyrrhus saluted with a nod.

Justus, however, said one more thing, "Before you go, you will need-"

His words unfortunately died in his throat, however, when there was a deafening death screech from a large Aparoid/Neuroi. Thinking that the gunner had killed something huge, the trio looked back at the tank. Fortunately, the gunner was very much alright, but he was looking over his left shoulder, which made Justus and Pyrrhus curious.

Having sharper long-ranged eyesight compared to the Salarian and humanoids, the two Turians left cover from the left side of the truck, wondering what the gunner was looking at. Upon leaving cover, they saw their answer.

"What the hell?" Pyrrhus mumbled under his breath, spotting a six-legged Aparoid/Neuroi walker in the distance as it fell forward with its head exploded outward.

Looking at each other, the two Turian looked at Hardings before they both frowned in unison, "What just happened?"

With Salarian caught in between the two Turians and the two humanoids, he relayed once more, "That walker, what just shot at it?"

Hardings looked at the scientist and pointed his hand up in the sky, "Look up!"

Ludorth looked at the Turians and pointed up in the sky as well, whom they turned and looked up.

"Captain, tracers! Do you see them?" Pyrrhus cawed as he pointed upward at a singular stream of bullets raining down from the sky.

Without acknowledging Pyrrhus' observation, Justus looked over at Hardings and Ellis; however, Hardings beat him to the chase with a cheerful cry, "Allow us, humanity, to present you our greatest weapon against the Neuroi!"

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"Oh yeah, baby!" Ellis cheered as he spotted the lonesome air support up above, "A badass witch with a mechanical eagle!"

"A Witch?" Ludorth frowned as the translator received the strange translation; however, that also prompt him to look at Hardings, "Colonel, what is your subordinate talking about?"

"That, my friend, is what we call the Witch." The colonel pointed and described, "What you are looking at is the reason we humans have survived for thousands of years."

Before Ludorth could ask anything else, a laser beam grazed one of the edges of the overturned truck. Instinctively, everyone flinched a bit, although everyone remained crouched for the moment.

"We would like to know more about these, witches, but we have lives on the line." The scientist reminded.

"Then tell your captain we'll be right behind him and his men."

Nodding at the human colonel, Ludorth turned around and said to a pistol-wielding Justus, "Captain, me and Hardings will be right behind you."

"Copy." The Turian captain coughed slightly before tapping Pyrrhus on the left shoulder, "Sergeant, you heard him! Let's go!"

With a curt nod, Pyrrhus stood up and barked, "On my lead!"

Silently acknowledging their CO, the five marines lurched up and followed behind Pyrrhus. Justus, Ludorth, Hardings, and Ellis followed suit, with Justus jogging with his pistol in the right hand.

"Contact, eleven o'clock!" Justus alerted and pointed his pistol onward, running and gunning at seven Aparoid/Neuroi riflemen.

"Roger that." Pyrrhus noted as he and a fellow marine raised their assault rifles and unleashed a three-round burst downrange. Although they were nearly 150 yards away, the dust size bullets from the Turian-designed Phaeston assault rifles slammed into the Neuroi without a problem.

"He's history." One of the marines remarked, gunning down the surviving Neuroi rifleman, "Looks like they were originally escorting that walker."

"Royes, cut the chatter." Pyrrhus silenced nonchalantly as he and everyone else returned to a running pace towards the M26 Pershing.

"Colonel!" The soldier on the tank's turret mounted machine gun saluted, spotting the group approaching the tank, "Good to see you!"

"Likewise." Hardings saluted back, running ahead of the group despite the language barrier, "You checked the crew?"

"Negative."

"Go ahead, we'll cover you."

Upon hearing the order, the unnamed soldier left the M2 Browning alone and knocked on the turret hatch.

Concurrently, Ludorth heard the colonel's order and relayed the info to Justus and Pyrrhus, albeit in sign language as usual.

"Copy." Pyrrhus gave a curt nod before shouting commands to his fellow marines.

Meanwhile, the tank hatch opened and a man poked his upper half out; however, upon seeing the bipedal avians and amphibian surrounding his tank, he flinched.

"At ease." The unnamed soldier assured him, "They're with us."

"Agh, thank god." The tank commander sighed in deep relief.

"What's your major malfunction, brother?"

"Aside from digging ourselves in the sand, our transmission is ceased. If that's not bad enough, our engine had overheated. We suspect the fan belt had broke ... again."

Ludorth was no mechanic, especially his Quarian counterparts, but the problems presented in this kind of vehicle made him suspicious.

"It sounds like this kind of tank breaks down often." Ludorth remarked to the humans, "Why do you still use it?"

"Because it entered service two years ago." Hardings replied instead of the tank commander, "It's not perfect, but its the heaviest hitting land vehicle we have at our disposal ... at least for this country."

"Huh ... nation-states." Murmured the timorous-turned-stoic amphibian scientist, "Reminds me of the Turian's Unification War."

"You say something?" Justus chirped, jolting the poor Salarian out of his train of thought.

Almost moving his lips to speak, the Salarian shook his head.

"Then what's going on with their tank?"

Silently, Salarian resorted to hand signals, first by putting his fingers together and shaking them up and down a few times. Then, he twirled his right finger above his hand in a twirling motion before gesturing a waist belt. Finally, his hands jerked upward as if he was splitting something apart.

"A broken fan belt?"

In response, the scientist simply nodded.

_"Fuck, fixing that will take forever. This tank is virtually dead, technologically and mechanically."_ Justus cursed internally; however, he shook himself out of thought and spoke out loud, "Ask him if there are any other tanks. We need that firepower!"

Looking back at the Colonel, Ludorth automatically imparted, "Colonel, what's going on with the others tanks? We need them as soon as possible."

"I'm working on it." Hardings snapped back, whom was crouching behind the cover of the tank while thoughtlessly shuffling through the channel frequencies on the holographic earpiece.

"Ludorth, what did he say?" Justus chimed in.

Almost immediately, Ludorth simply put his left arm in front of him across his torso while his right arm rapidly slid back and forth a few times. Then, his right hand went into a pinky and thumb salute, putting it up to his lips and ears. Recognizing the sign language, Justus sighed impatiently.

Suddenly, Ellis hollered and pointed at the ship, "Oh shit, there's Neuroi all over your ship!"

🎶ﾠ**-(**_**Play BGM: "Strike Witches Soundtrack - Uicchi No Tatakai"**_**)-** 🎶

Turning around almost immediately, Ludorth gasped as he saw large mantis-like Neuroi clambering on top of the disc-shaped science ship, digging their claws onto the ship's topside. But A few seconds barely transpired when bullets started raining down from the sky.

Justus and the other Turians heard the whistling and whizzing gunshots along with the screeching Neuroi death cries in the distance. Although terrified that his ship was being torn open like tin can by the mantis Neuroi, confusion and relief was plastered on his face when he saw them getting shot at. Instinctively, he followed the bullet trails.

"Pyrrhus, give me your binoculars." Justus demanded urgently, whom the marine sergeant complied immediately.

Putting the computerized rangefinder up to his eyes, he zoomed up in the sky, spotting the source of the gunfire that was saving his ship. There in the sky was a humanoid woman with dark brown hair and eyes flying with a pair of propeller-driven machines wrapped around her legs. This was perhaps the strangest thing he ever seen ... yet.

_"If I was an Asari, I would be highly offended right now."_ Justus murmured internally, spotting the lack of pants to cover up her undies, _"That long tunic and leather jacket isn't really helping with decency ... or lack there of."_

On her head was a pair of feathered avian ears synonymous with hawks, and she had a feathery tail sprouting from the bottom of her back. In her hands was a heavy machine gun, the very same one usually found on the top of tank turrets. How it was possible for a petite female like that to heave such a heavy weapon was beyond comprehension.

"Captain, she's a kilometer away, but she's able to shoot as if she's 50 meters away." Pyrrhus noted rather curiously.

"I can see that." The Turian captain sighed dryly as he lowered the binoculars, "At least she's saving the ship."

Overhearing the bantering of his Turian counterparts, Ludorth looked over at Hardings; however, when he was about to move his lips, his human counterpart halted him with his right hand.

But seconds later, Hardings turned off the holographic earpiece and replied, "Okay, I have good and bad news for your avian friends."

"Alright, let me get their attention." The Salarian nodded before he turned and tapped Justus on the back.

"Hmm?" Justus chirped and swiveled to the scientist, with Pyrrhus doing the same as well.

"The good news is that I still have half a dozen tanks in operation." Hardings reported upon climbing down from the tank, with Ludorth communicating with hand signals to relay the info, "The bad news is that they're all the way over there."

Pointing in the distance, Hardings directed the attention of his extraterrestrial counterparts, where they saw a bunch of tanks approximately 400 yards downrange. Spotting them in the distance, Justus raised the binoculars back to his eyes, quickly zooming onto the tanks. To the left was an immobilized tank, but to the right is a turretless tank.

But on top of the turreted tank, someone was operating the turret-mounted machine gun; however, between the two tanks, there were four men cowering behind the cover of either tanks. Looking where the gunner was shooting, there were a bunch of Neuroi slashers and riflemen swarming a few retreating trucks, but it wasn't much of an issue.

"Looks like they're stuck." Justus deduced out loud, whom Hardings frowned slightly, having no idea what the bipedal raptor-like captain just said.

"He's said they appeared to be stuck." Ludorth translated to the colonel, "Both the tank and men."

"That's correct, but they're engine is working, so they can operate their turret and radio. As for the crew of that other tank, looks like this had turned into a rescue mission." Hardings confirmed.

"Sir?" The tank commander chirped as he slipped down his tank, "What about my crew?"

"We'll wait until those Mantises are neutralized, then you can have your men seek refuge in their ship." Hardings ordered and pointed out the mantis Neuroi on the topside of the Talvath; however, he soon looked at Ludorth after saying that, and he bobbed his head slightly, "Are you people okay with that?"

Putting his right finger up to halt the human colonel, Ludorth passed on the information to Justus, whom paused and recoiled at the idea. But before he could come to such a decision, he looked back at his ship and saw about 13 Mantis Neuroi still busy tearing the topside of his ship apart. To his horror, no more shots were being fired at them.

"Sir!" An unnamed Turian marine chirped, catching the captain's attention, "Airborne hostile inbound!"

"Aparoid?" Justus and Pyrrhus asked in accidental unison as they both ran over to the marine at the rear of the tank.

"Don't know, sirs. But it's tiny, and it's kicking up lots of sand in its wake." The marine described, although there was a hint of nervousness in his tone.

Without a word, the captain raised his binoculars to spot the bogey. From the binocular's digital calculations, the bogey was traveling at a whooping 600 miles per hour. Although not as fast as a missile or rocket, the sight of a humanoid-size object flying at such speed was concerning, especially to a naval officer like Justus.

But as he watched the bogey loom closer and closer to the starboard bow of his ship, he saw the familiar humanoid shape, along with the feminine facial features and hawkish ears and tail. Most importantly, there were those leg-mounted thrusters; however, this one was sleek, completely lacking the spinning propellers.

"It's one of their own." Justus deduced with only partial relief, "But she is flying way too DAMN low."

"It's a miracle that none of the Aparoids shot her down yet." Pyrrhus added, equally bothered by the low-flying witch.

Ludorth saw the incoming witch in the distance as well, prompting him to look over at the colonel and ask, "How many of these 'witches' do you have present?"

"Two." Hardings simply replied, groaning at the end of his last sentence, "One up in the sky, and the other ... aw god ... here she comes."

"I take that this other one is a novice?"

"No, but let's just say that fear doesn't exist in her vocabulary."

At first, Ludorth was baffled by what the human meant, but then...

"Captain..." Pyrrhus frowned as his ears heard something ominous, "Is it me, or do I hear ... a jet?"

The Turian officers and Ludorth watched as the hawkish witch flew towards the ship, and at that moment, a mantis attempted to hop and intercept her. Suddenly, the witch simply performed an aileron roll, firing her machine gun into the flying mantis without losing speed and maintaining course. Within a couple seconds, the Neuroi is torn to pieces.

The 12.7mm machine in her hands shredded the mantis like they were vases. In fact, when another mantis was about to pounce, she performed another aileron roll, drilling into the Aparoid/Neuroi and smashing it to pieces. Not even a moment after that, she made a tight right turn and whooshing off to the right in a climbing left turn.

As she made that tight high-speed turn, she aimed her machine gun, strafing fire at the mantises before she completed her turn. Because she was traveling so fast, the wind traveling behind her was strong enough to blow away any weakened Neuroi or their remains. Thus, she swooped down and blew the survivors off the Talvath.

Then, much to amazement of Ludorth and the Turians, she performed a right high yo-yo ... a low altitude one! Sadly, the dust generating from the jet turbines billowed into the group, blinding Salarian, Turian, and Human alike within seconds. Unsurprisingly, everyone coughed and/or desperately fanned the sand away from them.

🎶ﾠ**-(**_**BGM Ends: "Strike Witches Soundtrack - Uicchi No Tatakai"**_**)-** 🎶

Justus could only grumbled as the clouds of dust cleared up swiftly; however, Ludorth couldn't help but sigh to no one in particular, "I take it that she doesn't fear consequences."

"Of course she doesn't." Hardings sighed, surprisingly replying back to the scientist's remark, "But we'll talk about that later. Right now, your friends need to get these men to your ship. There's no use for them being here with a broken tank."

Nodding at his human counterpart, Ludorth tapped Justus and Pyrrhus, gaining their attention before relaying the information.

"Captain!" A familiar female voice cried not that far in the distance.

Surprised, the Turian officers and the Salarian scientist turned towards the direction of the ship, where they saw Tanya limping her way towards them. Her stride was more akin to an angry scurry, defined by short quick steps swung in quick succession and heavy footprints. She was trying her best to appear as tall as possible, but...

The Asari growled modestly to the pain in her legs. If it weren't for that awful display of pain plastered momentarily on her face, it would've looked like she was doing a slow jog. Nevertheless, her presence was unusual.

"Tanya?" Justus blinked for a moment before he looked over at Ludorth with a suspicious glare, "I thought you said she was sent to the infirmary?"

Ludorth was speechless, however, not sure what to say to the captain aside from gaping and shaking his head nervously between Justus and Tanya.

"Ludwig, I don't want to hear a single word from you." Tanya snarled as she limped up close and harshly tapped her finger against his chest, "I'm here for Justus, not a slithering coward like you."

Silenced and frightened, the scientist took a few steps back as the Asari Lieutenant turned to Justus, "Captain, I've been trying make contact with you."

"Tanya, stop right there at once. That's an order." The Turian captain sternly barked at the Asari, immediately silencing as much as she silenced the scientist beside him, "You see these people behind us?"

Gesturing with his right thumb, Asari looked past the Turian, greeted by a perplexed Colonel Hardings, Corporal Ellis, the tank commander, and the rest of his crew (whom were steadily leaving their tank).

"This man right here is a Colonel among his kind. He needs my earpiece so he could communicate with his men." Justus explained the situation with a strong stoic voice, "Unless we lost vital systems and crew members, what do you have?"

"Power has been restored, but we can't pressurize the vessel."

"I know. The Aparoids had ripped too many holes in the ship, but do not fret or panic. We have these people on our side, and we're all trying to get each other out of hell."

"Then what's the plan? We need to move quickly before that Aparoid dropship comes back."

Upon hearing the Asari Lieutenant's question, he turned to the Salarian, giving him a tap on the chest to shake him out of his frightful stupor, "Ludorth, ask the Colonel for an aerial visual. We need to know how many Aparoids are left before we get these people to safety."

Clearing his throat upon receiving the captain's orders, the scientist turned around and parroted to Hardings, "Colonel, any chance that you can get a count on the Apa... I mean, Neuroi? We can't move unless there are hostiles near the ship."

"I'm on it." The human Colonel nodded, flinching behind cover as a stray laser beam struck the other side of the tank turret.

Springing into action, Hardings spoke into the holographic earpiece, "Commander, give me an update. How many Neuroi are on the ground?"

While he waited for the news from the witch high up in the sky, two of Pyrrhus' troops were firing upon a squad of Neuroi riflemen. From the energetic 'pling' and 'pew' of the Turians' Phaeston assault rifles, weak yet accurate and numerous bullets flew downrange at the cowering Neuroi infantry.

"Aw this is way too easy." The left Turian marine whistled.

"I know!" The right Turian marine chuckled back as he peppered a moving Neuroi rifleman at a hundred yards away, "They're not like ones we fought."

"Oh you're telling me. They have no shields, and their armor is like glass." The other marine cried as he expended an expended clip from his assault rifle, "But I guess if the Aparoids were this brittle, then this war would've been too much fun!"

"Don't get too cocky, gentlemen." Pyrrhus sternly reminded as he crouched behind the tank turret and fired his assault rifle as well; however, there was a slightly playful undertone in his voice, "All Aparoids are adaptable, and these guys are not-"

A loud 'shine' sliced through the air in the distance, synonymous with a Aparoid/Neuroi laser beam being fired. Although the Turians and their fellow allies were far away from the thick laser being fired, a distant 'boom' and several large billows of sand caught their attention. Looking to their right, a terrifying sight appeared before them.

Standing about as tall as a Geth Fighter, a ten-legged spider-like Aparoid/Neuroi emerged out of the sand; however, much to everyone's luck, the medium-sized arachnid Neuroi had its rear facing the group. Who would've known that a tall Neuroi like that would be facing the wrong way? Quite frankly, it's target were the trucks out in front of it.

"Aw come the fuck on!" One of the Turian marines cursed and sank his shoulders at the sight of such a beast.

"Everyone, get to the ship! Now!" Justus barked, realizing that the Neuroi was distracted.

Ludorth was quick to react and repeat the order to the humans, "Colonel, follow me!"

"No can do." Hardings shook his head sharply before he turned to Ellis and ordered, "Ellis, get this tank crew out of here."

"Yes, sir." Corporal Ellis saluted swiftly as he gestured the five-manned tank crew behind him and ran off with the Turians.

Not even a few seconds after the Turians and humans began to run, the spider Neuroi took off in an animalistic dash, kicking up sand like an overgrown horse. But then, a stream of bullets slammed into the Neuroi's back, penetrating its abdomen, tergites, and carapace. At the same time, a thunderous roar flew overhead at low altitude.

"Shit, seriously?!" Pyrrhus yelled as he was deafened and thrown backwards onto his bottom.

If getting deafened by a low-flying jet witch wasn't bad enough, there was a high pitched death scream from the camel spider Neuroi. Subsequently, everyone was utterly disoriented, blinded by the sand and deafened by two ear-piercing sounds. Not even the Turians could handle the noise, desperately covering their ears as they fell down.

The only people who weren't knocked off their feet and blinded by the subsequent cloud of sand were Ludorth, Hardings, and Tanya. That was because Tanya raised a biotic barrier, surrounding the trio behind a wall of element zero. For Hardings, he slowly loosen his guard and opened his eyes, perplexed by the female alien's capabilities.

_"Wh-what magic ... is this?"_ Hardings uttered internally, his eyes dilated by the wall of energy before him.

Unfortunately, Tanya was too busy keeping her hands up, keeping the biotic barrier up for the time being. More importantly, she was screaming from being deafened as well. Combined with the lingering pain in her lower legs, the Asari Lieutenant was being overtaxed, nearly on the verge of falling unconscious.

Thankfully, the Neuroi death scream and the transonic boom of the jet striker dissipated rapidly, replaced by the twinkling of countless inert Neuroi shards and crumbling bits and pieces of dirt. Once the cloud of sand settled, the scene was presented to the trio. The Turians and other humans were struggling to stand and regain their balance.

Although the Asari was no longer screaming, her breaths were heavy and deep; however, she eventually lowered her hands and the biotic barrier. Almost immediately, she slumped forward, lying stomach first and slamming into the ground like a dehydrated horse. Instinctively, Ludorth and Hardings rushed and knelt to her sides.

"Get off me." Tanya snarled and swung her right arm away from the Salarian.

Hardings was lucky not to touch her, but knowing that she was moving and very much alive, a gravely strict scowl was plastered on his face. When he turned on the holographic earpiece, however, he took his right hand to suppress his coughing. But that didn't stop him from making the call, "Commander, two things! Please, put a leash on your wingman ASAP, goddammit! That was too fucking close! And lastly, good shooting!"

"Yes, sir." Geena replied simply and humbly on the other hand, which did nothing to lighten the colonel's mood.

But upon looking down at the Asari, he was flabbergasted by the sight of something so eerily familiar. She had five fingers on each hand like a human, and her facial features were reminiscent to any other female among the human species. But in place of hair as found on humans, she had these tentacle-like tendons, which none of them moved.

"Colonel! The dropship!" Ludorth shouted and pointed up high, where he regained Hardings' attention and made him look up into the sky.

To his horror, he saw the familiarly large flying wing Neuroi reappear, emerging from cloak high up in the clear sky.

"Holy shit! It's back!" Pyrrhus cursed as he saw the Neuroi, all the while as he helped Justus stand up.

"Colonel, we need to get your people out of here." Ludorth stammered.

"I would like to do that, but we can't leave her behind." Hardings protested strongly yet calmly, gesturing his right hand towards the Asari's direction.

"But she doesn't want anyone touching her."

"So what?"

With that shrug, Hardings reached down and wrapped her left arm onto his left shoulder. Upon doing that, Tanya used her right hand to steadily left herself off the ground before swinging her right arm onto the human. Almost suddenly, she leaned against him, hissing from the pain shooting up from her lower legs.

"Easy now, it's okay." He instinctively grunted upon bearing the weight of the 110lbs alien female, "I got ya."

Unfortunately, Tanya had no idea what the human was saying to her. But on the other hand, I felt amazingly good that she was being handled by a creature retaining almost identical anatomical features to the Asari. It was so much better than being handled by a Turian, Quarian, Salarian, or even a fellow Asari ... but how ...?

Looking over at the Salarian, Hardings nodded, "Ludorth, I'll be right behind you. Let's go!"

With a momentary hesitation, Ludorth tentatively shook his head and began to jog towards the ship in the distance. All the while, Justus, Pyrrhus, the Turian marines, and the other humans had managed to get back on their feet. Disorientation was still present, however, especially since mostly everyone had to support each other.

Sadly, a distant explosion halted Hardings after he took a few steps forward...

Suddenly stopping in place, the Asari jolted and groaned in his grip. But when he looked around for the explosion, he saw a smoke trail spiraling down from the sky. Although a few thousand feet up in the sky, he knew what it was...

🎶ﾠ**-(**_**Play BGM: "MW2 Soundtrack - Roach's Final Run / Escape"**_**)-** 🎶

"Colonel! Geena is down! I repeat, Geena is down!" Ruby Olds hollered on the radiowaves, heard only from the holographic earpiece equipped by Hardings.

There was nothing he or anybody could do to save Geena as she free fell from three thousand feet, plummeting to her death with her right striker unit burning in flames and smoke. Although her left striker unit was working, there was no way it could be used to provide enough thrust to save her. The 21-year-old witch was a goner...

"Colonel, we need to go!" Ludorth shook the colonel's right shoulder, shaking him out of his horror, "There's nothing we can do for her."

"Get off me!" Hardings shoved the bipedal amphibian away with his left hand, and then, he took off in the direction of Geena's crash trajectory.

"Hardings, no!" The Salarian begged, latching his hand onto the human to prevent him from running off on a whim.

"I said fuck off!" The colonel angrily protested, letting go of Tanya and dropping her onto the ground in order to forcibly shove away the cowardly scientist.

Unfortunately, Ludorth kept his grip on the human, locking the two humanoids in a sudden struggle.

But upon pushing Ludorth back, however, a burst of element zero pushed the Salarian and Human away from each other. In between them, Tanya had used a powerful burst of element zero, allowing herself to pounced forward and somersaulted to her feet. Leaving the amphibian and monkey in the dust, she briskly dashed ahead at high speed.

A snarl hissed through her teeth as a sizzling pain shot up from her legs, where it morphed into an angry murmur, _"Why do all men have to fight over everything?!"_

Due to the pain, she was forced into a hunchback stature, struggling to maintain her posture as her legs made so many steps in quick succession. She had only seconds before the witch hit the desert floor, and it was impossible to save someone's life when you can't get to them in time. It didn't help that a Neuroi ladybug was waiting up ahead.

With nothing to stop her momentum, Tanya used her biotics to charge ahead, narrowly avoiding the infrared lasers of the ladybug. But as she walked to the right to avoid the armored fighting Neuroi walker, she noticed a shell embedded in its side. Almost suddenly, she had an idea, turning around and ran towards the walker's right side.

Against the onslaught of multiple lasers firing at her, she swiftly closed the distance; however, when she was about to leap over the Aparoid/Neuroi, she hurled a warp ball of element zero at the shell. With a low 'thump' from the impact, the shell detonated into a mighty fireball. As expected, the fireball hurled Tanya up and into the air.

Sadly, the blast wasn't as powerful as she expected, propelling her only about a few meters in front of her before she started falling to the ground. Using her biotics to gently slow herself down, she fell onto one knee and looked up at the sky. The witch was now only a thousand feet away from impact; however, she was close enough to be saved!

Lurching from her kneeling position, static electricity crackled and jumbled all around her, disturbing the dirt and sand all around her for ten long seconds. A toothy growl formed on her face as she watched the witch continue to free fall, but the distance was closing fast. Thus, a scream dispensed from the Asari as she finally leaped upward.

Within seconds, Tanya crossed 120ft and slammed into the witch.

A heavy thud and a pair of groans rung from the two women, caught within a subsequent mid-air tumble. Luckily for them, they flew upward for a moment before the messy mass of blue and white flesh started falling again. Sadly, nothing stop the Asari or Witch from screaming as they fell plummeted straight into the sandy desert.

🎶ﾠ**-(**_**BGM Ends: "MW2 Soundtrack - Roach's Final Run / Escape"**_**)-** 🎶

Silence had returned as a tall plume of sand shot high in the sky. From the explosion of sand, pieces of metal flew everywhere, most of which were low speed projectiles that clanked and clunk into the ground or buried themselves into the sand with a 'thoomp' or 'tish'. No Neuroi or people were around, but a bunch of gophers scurried to safety.

A groan finally broke through the sand, however, followed by a right hand slowly sprouting out of the sand. Geena tiresomely lifted her head and chest out of the ground, where she swung her left hand in front of her. Sluggishly, she rested there on her stomach, breathing slowly yet heavily into the ground, thankful that she was very much alive.

Her knuckles eventually tightened, cupping a large amount of sand before she attempted to drag herself out of the little crater. But something heavy kept her in place, particularly something still wrapped around her left leg. Luckily, her right leg was able to move freely, uninhibited by anything except for a heavy layer of sand and dirt.

Looking over her left shoulder, she sighed upon seeing that her left leg was still trapped by her left striker unit. Her telltale bird ears and tail were gone, however, which left her confused if not for the fact that she was buried in two feet of dust. Unable to turn herself around, the only thing she could do was use her right leg to push away the sand.

With nothing protecting her bare legs and feet, the roughness of the sand and dirt itched or scratched her flesh. Once her striker unit was halfway exposed, she tried to yank her leg out again. This time, she was able to break free, crawling her way out to freedom before slumping forward and laid there face first onto the desert floor.

Not even a moment too soon, footsteps crunched and rustled in the sand nearby, followed by the cries of Colonel Hardings, "Geena!"

"Tanya!" Justus called moments after Hardings, with Pyrrhus and his marines, plus Ludorth, following next to him.

But from Geena's point of view, all she heard from the Turian was the dual overlapping voices of a low-pitched pigeon. She didn't have to see the Turian to know what and where it was located. Judging from the close proximity of the footsteps, Hardings and that avian-like alien were somewhere nearby ... a lot closer than one may think.

The only reason why no one had found her just yet was because she crashed on the other side of a shallow hill. This wouldn't have been much of an issue, but the 21-year-old witch was tired and mottled in sand, dirt, and soot. But most damning of all, Geena was in no mood to speak; her throat was dry to the bone.

"Not bad..." Geena managed to utter before shutting her eyes and laid there, bathing beneath the blistering heat of the Azteca Nueva desert...


End file.
